Agent Rhode Island: Civil War
by TyForestWrites2
Summary: (Book 6) After joining the New Republic, Caboose, Tucker, Grif, and Simmons all train their own squads, while Rhode just helped around. But everything is not how it seems on this planet in the middle of nowhere... (Agent Carolina x OC) (Very subtle hints of Tucker x Kimball)
1. Prologue: What Do You Fight For?

**Hey guys! This is TyForestGames, and I'm back to write Agent Rhode Island: Civil War! This is one of my favorite seasons, a huge breath of fresh air from 11. Minds were blown with this one. But let's get right into it!**

 **XXX**

 **Prologue: What Do You Fight For?**

"Journal Entry... *sigh* Who can even remember at this point?

For the past few weeks, it's been one step forward, two steps back. We manage to take an enemy post, but we lose too many men to hold it. Felix brings a haul of weaponry, but half of it is damaged beyond use.

As for our heroes... Well, all but one are technically soldiers... I think. The only one that counts as a fully fledged soldier is Agent Rhode Island. He helps out various squads and basically does what Felix does, only for free.

Captain Grif has certainly exhibited extraordinary creativity. And by that, I mean he somehow managed to incorporate 'infiltrating the mess hall' into his men's daily training routine.

Captain Simmons has taken up his leadership with gusto, but he seems to fall apart when it comes to communicating with his squad. I've talked to them about it, but the girls just can't figure out what's wrong.

Captain Caboose has officially been forbidden from operating vehicles and heavy machinery. I won't go into details.

As for Captain Tucker... Besides Rhode, he's our best bet at this point. He's not smart, he's not disciplined, but he's driven. *Sigh* I just don't know if driven will be enough.

The Federal Army has their friends, and they've put a lot of obstacles between us and them. If we can't even save a few prisoners, how can we expect to save Chorus?"

"Meh. We'll wing it."

"Tucker! What are you doing?! Get out!!"

 **XXX**

 **And thus starts Season 12! Hope you liked the prologue I made out of the trailer. Oh, and in case you couldn't tell, this was Kimball speaking. Till next time guys!**


	2. Chapter 1: Oh Captain, My Captains

**Chapter 1: Oh Captain, My Captains**

On an isolated planet many light-years from friendly contact, in a darkened tunnel deep beneath the jungle, an important mission was underway. Three teams of soldiers, each wearing tan armor, were approaching an old mining facility from different directions, ready to do battle against their mortal enemy.

Behind a stack of crates, one soldier, whose armor had blue trim, switched on the radio in his helmet to contact the others, "Red Team, this is Blue Team. We are in position, do you copy? Over."

In a passageway that overlooked the facility's garage, a member of Red Team responded, "Blue Team, this is Red Team. I copy, Blue in position. Over."

The Blue Team leader nodded at the reply, "Gold Team, this is Blue Team. All units are in position and awaiting further instructions. What is your status? Over."

He waited for a response, but none came, "Gold Team 2-3, this is Blue Team 1-2. Radio check. Over."

Finally the leader of Gold Team responded, "Uh yeah, we're here, Blue Team."

"Gold Team, I repeat, what is your status? Over."

"Uhhh... we're pretty good?"

The Blue Team leader frowned, "What?"

"Actually, uh, we were wondering if we could maybe change our name to, uh, Orange Team."

"What difference does it make?"

At that moment, another voice cut into the conversation, "You tell them it makes a big difference, Bitters, because I am orange! I am not gold! I am not yellow! I am freaking orange!"

"Grif, get off the radio!" another voice snapped in the distance, "The teams are fine."

"The teams suck," the first voice, Grif, muttered.

"You're gonna blow our cover!"

Grif sighed, "Alright, we'll be Gold. Go tell the Blue Team to suck it and then get into position."

"Whatever you say, Captain," Bitters replied.

"Uh, I heard all that," the Blue Team leader cut in, but Bitters quickly hung up, "Jerks... Alright, team, let's go."

Outside the main doors of the facility, Grif switched off the radio and rejoined his fellow teammates, Simmons and Caboose.

Simmons, who was wearing maroon armor, shook his head in disbelief, "We're infiltrating an enemy base and you're whining about colors?"

"It's a misleading title," Grif grumbled, "People could get confused!"

"Oh shut up!" Simmons snapped, turning back towards the security lock on the door.

"No, he's right," cut in Caboose, who wore blue armor with a Mark V helmet, "I'm confused."

"Caboose, you're always confused," Simmons sighed.

"Well, that sounds confusing."

Ignoring Caboose's stupid remark, Simmons placed a small device on the lock and switched it on, "Okay, doors opening in approximately fifteen seconds."

"Yeah, yeah," Grif muttered, taking out his battle rifle.

"Oh man," Simmons gulped nervously, "What if this doesn't work?"

"Probably won't."

"What if it's a trap?"

"Probably is."

"What would Sarge say at a time like this?"

"Shut it, Simmons."

"Probably. Yeah."

Simmons was right to be nervous, though. This was the first time in so many years that he was doing something without making glib remarks to the leader he admired most. In fact, it was the first time that any of them were doing anything without their respective leaders.

Barely two months ago, the three Spartans had been returning to their original home as members of their teams, Red and Blue, sometimes known as the Blood Gulch Crew after the canyon they'd been based at. But on the way, through a mysterious series of events, their ship had veered way off course and crash-landed on a backwater planet called Chorus, and straight into the middle of a civil war. The arrival attracted the attention of the two main factions of the planet, the Federal Army of Chorus and the New Republic.

The Reds and Blues were contacted by Felix, a mercenary working for the New Republic, who asked them to aide them in taking back the planet for themselves. At first, the Blood Gulch Crew refused the offer, just wanting to get out of this place. But moments later, they were attacked by members of the Federal Army, led by the mysterious soldier simply called Locus. In the battle that ensued, Simmons, Grif, Caboose, Agent Rhode Island, or Rhode, and Tucker managed to escape with the New Republic, but the rest of their friends, Sarge, Donut, and Lopez on the Red Team and Agent Washington on the Blue Team, were incapacitated and captured by the Feds.

Though despondent by the loss, the Republic's leader, Vanessa Kimball, informed the escapees that their friends were still alive, but the only way they could get them back was if they joined the New Republic and helped train up new squads of soldiers for their battle against the Feds. Now just a few weeks later, Simmons, Grif and Caboose were leading their respective squads in their first great mission: clearing the Feds out of this facility.

The security lock bleeped, the password showing up onscreen: PASSWORD12.

"Here we go," Simmons cried, drawing his rifle.

As the doors slid open, Caboose whipped out his assault rifle and charged into the room, screaming at the top of his lungs as he emptied his full clip into the room. After a while, Simmons and Grif peeked inside... to find that Caboose had left dozens of bullet holes into the wall.

"Did we win?" Caboose asked hoarsely.

"No," Simmons sighed, stepping into the room, "Apparently we've unlocked one of several security doors."

"Oh, so I talk on the radio and it's jeopardizing the mission," Grif scoffed, "But that happens and everything's fine?"

"Shush, Grif," Caboose hissed, reloading his gun, "They might hear you."

Simmons hacked the next lock and stood back, "Doors opening."

Caboose charged into the next room with a yell and fired at the next wall. Grif just followed behind, sighing and shaking his head.

 **XXX**

On a cliff overlooking the facility, Bitters switched on the radio, "Captain Grif, we have visual on the main compound. Over."

"What's it look like?" Grif asked.

Bitters looked around, observing the dozens of white armored Federal soldiers flanking the base, "Well, on a scale of one to ten... I'd say we're pretty screwed."

"Stow that kind of talk, Bitters," snapped the Blue Team leader, Smith, "Our CO's put a lot of effort into this plan, so why don't you show a little faith? Right, Captain Caboose?"

"Yes," Caboose agreed.

 **XXX**

Inside the base, Simmons and Grif crept down the hallway as carefully as they could, keeping their guns trained for any danger.

"Alright, we're almost there," Simmons hissed, "Is everyone ready?"

"Ready," the team lieutenants replied.

"Ready," Caboose added, following them.

"Captain Simmons," the Red Team leader spoke up, "Jensen has something to say to you."

Simmons suddenly froze in his tracks, "Uh... Yes, Jensen."

 **XXX**

Grif frowned as he heard a female voice speaking with a pronounced lisp speaking to Simmons, "I jutht wanted to thay that no matter what happenth, it'th been an honor working with you, thir."

"Uh... thank you, lieutenant," Simmons stammered awkwardly, "That is... yes. Uh..."

He cleared his throat and spoke in a firm voice, "Affirmative. Over."

 **XXX**

Grif swapped a very puzzled look with Caboose, "What was that?"

"What?" Simmons asked.

"Did you just stroke out for a second? You sounded like Caboose."

"Um, if he's me, can I be him?" Caboose asked.

"Shut up!"

"Look at me, I'm smart," Caboose spoke in a deep voice, imitating Simmons and failing somewhat, "I like slide rules and protractors. Oh, I can't wait to do some protracting."

"So I still have problems talking to girls," Simmons retorted, "So what?"

"Yeah," Grif scoffed, "It is, especially when your squad consists entirely of girls. Now man up!"

"Oh man," Simmons whined, throwing his arms over his head, "This is like junior high all over again!"

"What?" Grif asked, puzzled.

"Why do I have to play in the woman's league?" Simmons moaned in a high-pitched voice, "I wanna be a mathlete, Dad! A mathlete!"

"Yeah, I don't want to be Simmons anymore," Caboose murmured, backing away from Simmons.

"Dang it, do I have to do everything around here?" Grif stepped forward, pushed Simmons' arms aside, took off his helmet and delivered a powerful slap to his cheek.

"OW!" Simmons yelped, shaking his head, "Thanks, I needed that."

"Yeah, sure," Grif muttered, waving his hand, "Man, I always forget you're a cyborg."

He handed Simmons' helmet back and switched on his radio, "Everybody, get ready. We're going on my mark."

Simmons put his helmet back on then drew out his rifle.

"Three... Two... One!"

With that, Grif, Simmons and Caboose charged around the corner... and ran smack into four Federal soldiers coming the opposite direction.

"Every man for himself!" Grif screamed, fleeing back the way they'd come.

Simmons and Caboose hared after him, firing their guns in various directions.

"Run, body!" Grif yelled, racing out the base, "It's important that I live!"

On the cliff, Bitters spotted his leader and jumped to his feet, "Wait, what? What's going on?"

"Suppressing fire!" another Gold Team soldier yelled, firing at one Fed soldier.

Unfortunately, the soldier he'd shot at was manning a turret, which he immediately turned and fired at the Gold Team, driving them back along the cliff.

Below them, three more Republic soldiers came charging into the fray.

"Reinforcements on the way!" one soldier yelled, but moments later, they were immediately flattened... by the Gold Team falling off the cliff and landing right on top of them.

At the same time, Caboose ran across the battlefield, screaming and firing his gun, running right past the crates where his team was hiding behind.

"Captain Caboose, NO!" Smith yelled in dismay, running after his leader.

Just then, a Warthog-Class jeep came barreling out of the garage, driven by Jensen and the Red Team.

"Don't worry, we're coming!" Jensen yelled.

But as she drove towards Simmons, she accidentally hit Smith and crashed into the cave wall.

"Thorry, thorry, thorry!" she cried out, "Why are there tho many pedalth on thith thing?!"

Simmons, Grif and Caboose didn't notice the trouble their lieutenants were in. They were too busy running around the battlefield, screaming in panic.

Then suddenly a loud alarm rang out from the base and everybody stopped in their tracks... including the white armored soldiers.

"What the crap was that?!" came an angry voice from behind them.

Everybody turned round as another tan armored soldier stepped onto the battlefield, this one with cobalt blue trim and a blue visor. Grif and Simmons winced slightly for they recognized the soldier as Vanessa Kimball, leader of the New Republic.

Caboose however still ran across the field yelling before looking around and stopping in his tracks, "Oh, we stopped."

Kimball sighed and put her hand to her visor, "What is the point of these training exercises if you people aren't going to work together?"

"But we did!" Simmons protested, "We had team names and everything!"

"Grif was Gold!" Caboose added.

"Orange!" Grif cut in.

"You had a plan, you were organized, but once again you crumbled under pressure!" Kimball broke off with a sigh, "Lieutenants, debrief with your CO's. Everyone else, round up all your training weapons and uniforms. That's enough Capture the Flag for today!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Grif cried out, pulling off his helmet, "And what the heck are we supposed to say? 'Hey guys, sorry you still suck. Turns out we suck too! At least we have something in common!'"

"Tell them what they need to hear," Kimball replied, "Tell them that they can do this, and that next time they will be better."

Simmons frowned as he took off his helmet, "So you want us to lie to them."

"No, I don't," And with that remark, Kimball turned and left the training ground.

Meanwhile, the Team lieutenants met up with their leaders.

"You... wanted to talk to uth, thirth?" Jensen asked with a salute.

Grif sighed and shook his head in dismay, "I hope Tucker and Rhode have it better than this."

 **XXX**

Some distance away from the New Republic's hidden base, Tucker, Rhode, and Felix were scouting out a real Federal Army outpost. Felix was scoping out the scene with the scope on his sniper rifle while Tucker waited back with his squad. As he looked out, he felt a little pang of guilt when he saw Felix's steel-gray armor, thinking back to his leader and close friend, Agent Washington. Sure, Felix's armor had orange trim as opposed to Wash's bright yellow, but every time he saw it, Tucker still missed his leader. But that's why he was here; he was trying his best for Wash.

"Hey, Felix," Tucker hissed after a few minutes, "You think I could have a turn with that sniper rifle?"

"Absolutely not," Felix grunted.

Tucker sighed and bowed his head. He then turned to Rhode.

"Don't even think about it," Rhode stated as Tucker began to open his mouth.

"Dang it."

One soldier, whose armor had aquamarine trim, coughed gently, "Uh... sometimes I like to take my hands and cup them around my eyes. Like little hand binoculars."

"Shut up, Palomo," Tucker snapped.

 **XXX**

 **Ah Palomo. The most incompetent soldier in the New Republic. Till next time guys!**


	3. Chapter 2: Hit and Run

**Chapter 2: Hit and Run**

Once he'd scoped out the forces outside the facility, Felix left his outpost and went to inform Rhode and Tucker and his team. In all honesty, he'd expected to do this mission on his own with a small team of soldiers, but when Kimball had given him the task, Tucker had immediately volunteered himself and his squad to accompany him. And Rhode came along for the ride.

Despite his concern that Tucker was only coming so that he could try and rescue Agent Washington, Felix had reluctantly agreed. Tucker's squad consisted of Private Palomo, who'd added aqua trim to his tan armor, and Privates Rogers and Cunningham, both with green trim.

"It doesn't look good, guys," Felix informed Rhode and Tucker and his men, "They've really beefed up their security."

"Why?" Rogers asked nervously, "What's goin' on?"

"Well, it could bet that someone from up top is coming to visit," Felix replied, "Or it could be a response to the weapons I stole from this place a few weeks ago."

"Geez, I wonder which one it is," Rhode muttered sarcastically.

"Uh, I think it's pretty obvious that it's the weapons," Palomo put in helpfully, missing his leader's tone.

"Just stop talking," Tucker snapped.

Felix turned to a small box nearby and flicked it open, "We're gonna have to go with Plan B."

"Wait, whaddya mean?" Tucker cried, "What's Plan B?"

Felix took out some small pistols, each with a large grenade on the end, and started handing them out to the squad, "We plant C-4, we leave and then we blow this outpost to kingdom come."

"What?!" Tucker gasped.

"It's a standard hit and run. I've done it a million times, we'll be fine."

"Actually, no, we'll not be fine," Tucker snapped, "I thought we came here to gather intelligence! That's gonna be pretty difficult when their computer system is in about forty thousand pieces!"

"I have to agree with Tucker," Rhode said, "Plan A was the entire reason I came here!"

Felix shook his head, "Okay, I understand you wanna save your friends. I do, really. But data retrieval is no longer an option. Once we find out where they're holding Wash and the others, the New Republic will do everything they can to save them."

He sighed, "But today isn't that day."

Tucker turned away with a sigh, "Yeah, whatever..."

It was the same news he'd heard for the last few weeks. Every piece of news about his captured friend lifted his hopes up, but every time, something else came up and his hopes were shattered like glass.

Felix then pulled out a small electronic device, "Now, we've only got one active camo unit. Tucker, that goes to you."

He went over to the aqua Spartan and plugged the device into his left gauntlet, "It's a little damaged so try not to run it constantly, only when you need to disappear. Got it?"

"Got it," Tucker replied, already knowing how to work it from experience with another Freelancer in the past.

"Rhode," Felix said, "You're the lookout. Watch our perimeters."

Felix then turned to the squad, "As for the rest of you, that's up to your captain."

Immediately, the squad turned to Tucker, ready for orders.

"Right," Tucker glanced around the cave for a while then his eyes fell upon a long black cable snaking along the cave floor.

With a smile, he drew out his energy sword and switched it on, "Ohh yeah..."

 **XXX**

Ten minutes later, two Fed specialists pulled up outside the cave in a Warthog and climbed out. Earlier, one of their computers had abruptly shut down, and their superior had sent them to investigate the problem.

They entered the cave, keeping an eye out for trouble, and soon they reached the main cable.

"Ah, here's the problem," one specialist stated, holding up one end of the damaged cable, "The rats must have chewed through the wire."

"That is a military-grade reinforced power cable," his colleague noted, "What kind of rats are you talking about?"

The first specialist was silent for a moment, "Um... space rats?"

His friend thought it over, "Yeah, I could see that."

"Well, better patch this up quick," The first specialist took out his tools, but before he could work on the cable, he heard a loud whack and the sound of a body hitting the ground.

He turned round and saw his friend lying unconscious on the cave floor, "What the-"

Suddenly he felt a powerful blow from behind him.

"OW! The back of my head!" he yelped.

As he hit the ground, the last thing he saw were two soldiers in tan armor high-fiving each other before blacking out.

 **XXX**

Five minutes later, while Felix patched up the cable that Tucker had cut, Rogers and Cunningham had dressed themselves up in the specialists' armor.

"Perfect!" Tucker cried, tossing Rogers' helmet aside, "Now you look just like the rest of those morons."

"That was stupidly fortunate," Rhode stated.

"Whaddya mean?"

"I mean, what if we ended up with two really fat bad guys?" Felix turned to the disguised soldiers, "What size are you, Cunningham, like a medium?"

"Youth extra large, sir," Cunningham replied.

"See? Right there, the whole plan would've been ruined," Felix gave Tucker a stern look, despite the fact that his helmet hid his face, "Just 'cos you watch something on TV, you think that it's a good idea?"

"You don't?" Tucker retorted before shaking his head at Cunningham, "Also, really man? Youth extra large?"

"It's very slimming, sir," Cunningham said.

"Hey, what about me?" Palomo asked, "Do I get a disguise?"

"No, Palomo," Tucker said, "You'll be guarding our escape route."

"Oh, okay."

"It's because I don't trust you."

"Got it."

"Honestly, if you were out in the field, you'd probably get all of us killed."

"I can totally see that," Palomo agreed, "Yeah, that'd be me."

"Alright," Felix declared, "Let's get to work."

 **XXX**

Rhode moved to higher ground to get a better look at the outpost. Rogers and Cunningham took the Warthog back to base with a cloaked Tucker hitching a lift on the turret. As they pulled up outside the facility, they looked up and spotted Felix climbing along a ledge.

"Okay," Cunningham sighed, climbing out of the jeep, "Just play it cool."

"You really think this plan is gonna work?" Rogers hissed nervously, "I know the Reds and Blues are supposed to be like war heroes, but they all seem kinda dumb."

"Dude, I'm invisible, not deaf," Tucker retorted from behind.

"Oh, sorry, sir," Rogers muttered.

 **XXX**

Up on the ledge, Felix watched as Tucker's squad made their way into the facility.

"Okey dokey, boys," he informed them on a secret channel in his helmet radio, "Everyone take your modified sticky detonators, find something that looks expensive and strap a bomb to it. Once you're done, head back to the cave."

"You sure you're gonna be okay out there with your armor, Sir?" Rogers asked.

Felix chuckled to himself, "Don't worry about me, kid."

"Freeze!" a voice yelled behind him just then.

Felix didn't turn immediately; he just pulled out a knife, then he spun around and hurled it right at the Fed behind him, catching him in the throat.

As the Fed fell to the ground, dying with a choked gasp, the mercenary smiled and did a fist-pump, "I am freaking awesome!"

"Not gonna lie," Rhode admitted over the radio, "That was pretty cool."

 **XXX**

Once inside the facility, Tucker, Rogers and Cunningham split up to set the charges at different points.

Tucker switched off his cloaking device to save some energy then he approached one of the buildings, "Okay, bomb. Do me a favor and don't blow up in my face. Am I right?"

He turned round, only to remember he was alone, "Who am I talking to?"

"So, he's really here?" came a voice from behind him.

"Crap!" Tucker hissed, ducking behind some crates, just before two Fed soldiers came around the corner.

"Yep," one of the soldiers replied, "Just came in from the city."

"They still got the Freelancer up there?" his friend asked.

"I dunno. Look it up inside."

"Forget that, I'm not gonna let him catch me slacking off."

As the soldiers entered the building, Tucker peeked out of cover, his hopes once more on the rise. Those Feds had mentioned a Freelancer, and he knew that there was only one Freelancer other than Rhode on this whole planet it could be, "Wash..."

Just then, Felix's voice came through his radio, "Tucker, what's your status?"

"Good, good," Tucker fibbed, heading towards another building, "Almost done."

Looking through the doorway, he spotted a Fed monitoring a computer.

Slowly, Tucker crept into the lab and raised his detonator behind the soldier's head, "Don't move!"

"What the?" the Fed cried, starting to turn.

"I said don't move!" Tucker snapped, pushing his gun against the Fed's helmet, "Turning is moving!"

The Fed gulped nervously and turned back.

"Okay," Tucker hissed, "I want like a hard drive or something, with base locations and classified stuff, and any info you've got on Agent Washington and the other dudes you kidnapped a while back."

"Okay, just take it easy," the Fed murmured, pulling out a flash drive from his pocket and plugging it into the computer.

"Captain, we're almost done," Rogers then called over Tucker's radio, "Where are you?"

"I'm in the lab," Tucker replied, "Just give me a sec."

"You're what?!" Rhode's voice cut in, having overheard the conversation.

"Dude, chill out," Tucker reassured, "I got this."

"You have got to be kidding me!" Felix yelled, "I specifically told you not to-"

Tucker switched off his radio, cutting off Felix's berate, "Thank you, mute button."

"Alright," the Fed informed him as a progress bar appeared on the computer screen, "The data is copying over onto a flash drive."

"Sweet!" Tucker then punched the back of the soldier's neck, knocking him out, "Ha ha! Who's dumb now?"

"Hey," another soldier cried, running into the lab.

"I surrender!" Tucker yelped, dropping his detonator and raising his hands.

"No, sir," the soldier cried, "It's me, Cunningham."

"Oh right," Tucker sighed in relief, lowering his hands.

"You turned off your radio. Everything alright?"

"Yeah, sorry. I was kinda in the middle of something."

"Well, we've gotta go, like now."

"Yeah, absolutely," Tucker glanced over his shoulder to check on the progress bar which was currently showing 85% completion, "Just one more minute."

"But, sir," Cunningham argued, "I think the Feds are onto us."

"Okay, okay," Tucker started turning towards the screen as the bar neared 100% completion, "We can goooooooo... Now!"

Just as the download completed, he pulled out the flash drive with one hand while switching on his cloak with the other.

Suddenly a loud shot rang out, followed by a heavy thud. Tucker turned round to discover Cunningham lying dead on the floor, and as he looked up and saw the cause of his death, his breath caught in his throat, his knees turned to jelly and he dropped to the floor.

"Oh crap..."

There, standing in the passageway, holding a shotgun in his hands, was a truly terrifying figure in black-and-green armor. His face was hidden behind a Locus helmet, his deep breaths echoing in the silence like a wraith. His very presence would strike fear into any member of the New Republic, and indeed Tucker himself was terrified, with good reason. For this figure, who had killed dozens of rebel soldiers in his time with the Feds, who made even the Meta seem like a kitten at times, was responsible for his friends' capture; and his name... was simply Locus.

As two other Fed soldiers ran into the lab, Locus approached Cunningham's body and turned on the loudspeakers on his radio.

"Cunningham?" Rogers' voice called out, "Everything okay? Uh, Jason? Man, what's going on? Uhhh, guys, Cunningham isn't responding."

"We've been infiltrated," Locus informed the Feds, his deep acoustic voice sending icy chills down Tucker's spine, "Sound the alarm."

The soldiers nodded and ran out of the lab. Then Locus looked up at the screen and saw the display: Transfer complete. Then he looked down at the unconscious Fed. Then he raised his gun and started stepping closer.

Tucker took shallow breaths as he saw the merciless mercenary approaching him. He tried to back away, but his legs felt like they were trapped in cement. Suddenly a warning flashed up on his helmet's HUD: Equipment Malfunction.

'Oh no, not now,' he thought to himself, 'Any minute now...'

Suddenly a loud explosion rang out from outside and Locus whirled around to look, seconds before Tucker's cloak failed.

With an angry growl, Locus ran out of the lab, leaving Tucker to fall back with a huge sigh of relief. "Ah, man..."

 **XXX**

"Come on, everyone move! We are aborting the mission!"

On the ledge over looking the facility, Felix and Rhode watched as another charge exploded, sending several Feds flying.

"I detonated some of the C4 as a distraction, so get out of there!" Felix said, "There's a good chance they'll be searching for, and disarming the bombs!"

 **XXX**

Inside the facility, Rogers heard the message as he planted a charge, "Ah, man."

Tossing his detonator away, he ran out of the hall.

"Hey, you!" a voice called out, "Stop!"

Rogers turned round, hoping to see Tucker or Cunningham there.

But instead, he saw a Fed soldier running towards him, "Uh, yes?"

"You're a specialist, right?" the soldier asked, "Come on, man, we need your help!"

"Oh," Rogers muttered nervously, "Great..."

 **XXX**

"Ah, crap!" Tucker yelled as he fled from the lab.

Fed soldiers spotted him and opened fire on him, but he didn't care.

He ran out of the facility and towards the cave, "Ah, crap oh crap oh crap oh crap!"

Another explosion kept the Feds from following him, so he made it safely back to the cave where he paused to catch his breath.

"Tucker!"

"AH!" Tucker jumped in alarm, but calmed down when he saw Palomo, "Jesus, dude!"

"Are you okay?" Palomo asked in concern, "What happened?"

"No!" Tucker yelled then hastily corrected himself, "I mean yes! Where's Felix, Rhode, and Rogers?"

 **XXX**

At that moment, Rogers was following the soldier back towards one of the charges he'd planted earlier, now surrounded by nervous Feds.

"Here," said the soldier who'd called him, pointing at the charge, "You can disarm this, right?"

"Well, I..." Rogers looked nervous, for he didn't actually know how to disarm it, "No, I..."

"Whaddya mean, no?" another soldier cried, "This is your job!"

"Right, I know, uh..." Rogers sighed, "I know."

 **XXX**

Elsewhere, Felix was making his own way back to the caves, but three Fed troopers had spotted him and had cornered him behind a tree. Felix took a moment to catch his breath, then he leapt out and held up one hand, summoning his hard-light shield to deflect the Feds bullets before raising his own gun and taking them out. Another Fed charged out towards him, screaming at the top of his voice, but Felix just turned and swept his leg round, kicking the Fed's legs out from under him.

"Right," Felix then ran off into the cave, where he met up with Tucker, Rhode, and Palomo, "Talk to me, people! Where's Rogers?"

"Not here," Rhode replied.

"Cunningham?"

Tucker sighed and bowed his head, "Locus got him."

"Locus is here?!" Felix raised his sniper rifle and peered through the scope, just as Locus deactivated his own cloak and fired a shot, just missing Palomo's head, "RUN!"

"What about Rogers?" Palomo cried.

"Get down!" Felix ducked behind the cave wall and lifted his detonator.

"No, wait!" Tucker yelled, but he was too late...

 **XXX**

All around the facility, the remaining charges lit up and started beeping.

Rogers was just about to get to work on his charge, when it flashed red, "Oh, son of a-"

KABOOOOOOOOMM! That was the last thing Rogers ever saw.

 **XXX**

 **And that's the end of Rogers... Poor guy... We barely knew you and Cunningham... Till next time guys!**


	4. Chapter 3: Something Else Entirely

**Chapter 3: Something Else Entirely**

Back at the New Republic headquarters, morale was low following the botched training exercise. Each of the squads felt guilty about letting their captains down, but Grif decided to cheer them up by telling them about the Blood Gulch Crew's previous adventures.

"BOOM!" he yelled, throwing his arms out wide, "Huge explosion, you wouldn't believe it! He just shook it off though, like it was nothing, and he comes right at us."

The squads let out a collective gasp, as did the other New Republic soldiers who'd gathered to listen.

"He cut our rocket launcher in half, so Tucker goes in for a stab..." Grif mimed thrusting a sword forward, "But nothing works. That's when I knew what to do."

The soldiers drew in their breath.

"I throw myself on top of him, taking him completely by surprise!" Grif acted out his grapple, "But he has the strength of ten men! No, ten _bears_!"

"Whoa!" the soldiers gasped.

"That's pretty cool," breathed a Blue Team soldier.

"Bears are strong," a Red Team soldier added.

"This guy was invincible," Grif continued, building up the tension, "It looked like nothing was going to stop him!"

"What did you do?" one of the other soldiers cried.

"Huh?" Grif asked, taken aback for a moment, "Oh, Rhode tied a car to him and we pushed it off a cliff."

The soldiers fell silent for a tense second.

"That is the most metal thing I've ever heard," breathed Matthews, a member of Gold Team.

And then everyone else burst into rapturous applause.

"Thank you, thank you," Grif chuckled, bowing at the praise, "So the moral of the story is, you never know when random, seemingly unimportant stuff will turn out to be very important, which is why you shouldn't question me when I tell you to build me something like a hammock, or a human slingshot."

At that moment, Simmons came in, looking very confused, "Grif, what are you doing?"

"Just tellin' these guys how we took down the Meta," Grif replied.

Simmons frowned, "Why?"

"Is it true, Simmons?" called his Red Team lieutenant, whose armor had bright pink trim, "Did he really growl like some sort of monster?"

"And did he really have the thtrength of ten bearth?" Jensen added.

"Uh..." Simmons stuttered nervously, "I uh, um... more like, uh, twenty bears."

"Wow!" Jensen gasped.

"So hot!" the other girl agreed.

"That is why," Grif beamed.

Simmons sighed and shook his head, "You're spending way too much time with Tucker."

Just then, the intercom rang out and Kimball's voice spoke out, "Grif, Simmons, and Caboose, report to my office immediately."

"Well, guys," Grif announced, "It looks like that's it for today. Run along."

"Awwwww," the crowd moaned, before splitting up back to their sleeping quarters.

"I liked the part with the bears," Caboose muttered, leaving the crowd to join his friends.

 **XXX**

Inside Kimball's office, Tucker's mood was at an all-time low. Still shaken by his near miss with Locus, coupled with the terrible deaths of Rogers and Cunningham, things got worse when Felix had discovered his purpose in the labs. The moment they got back to base, Felix had confiscated the hard-drive and took it into Kimball's office. Rhode sat next to him, looking a bit disappointed himself.

That had been ten minutes ago, and now Kimball had called in the others, presumably to tell them off for their dismal failures. Sitting behind the main desk, Tucker bowed his head low, looking down at his helmet in his hands, seeing the gloomy look on his dark-skinned face. His one chance of rescuing Wash and the others, snatched from under his nose like a one dollar bill.

"Tucker!" a familiar voice called out just then.

Tucker looked up and saw his friends entering the base, their helmets at their side. He smiled slightly as he saw the looks on their faces; a nonchalant smile on Grif's chubby cheeks, a concerned look from Simmons' cyborg-enhanced eyes, and a huge grin of joy on Caboose's dim face.

"Tucker!" Caboose yelled again, running up to his friend.

"If you hug me, I will shoot you," Tucker warned.

"Ah, it's okay, Tucker," Caboose reassured, "I know you're more into groping. Come on, let's grope."

"Just shut up," Rhode face-palmed.

"When did you get back?" Grif asked.

"A little while ago," Tucker murmured.

Simmons then noticed Tucker and Rhode's despondent looks, "What happened?"

Tucker opened his mouth to speak, but then Felix came into the room and answered for him, "Oh, I'll tell you what happened."

Tucker cringed slightly as Felix stepped up to him, a stern look on his face, then turned to the others, "Captain Tucker here decided to disobey orders and took it upon himself to recover a hard drive full of Federal Army secrets, a decision that only cost him the lives of two of his men."

Tucker closed his eyes, ready for a very tough berating.

But to his surprise, Felix gave a hearty laugh and clapped the aqua Spartan on his shoulder, "That's a pretty good trade if I do say so myself!"

"What?" Rhode gasped.

"Man, you should have seen this guy," Felix chuckled, "He was all, 'I don't play by the rules!' Freaking James Bond and stuff all over the place! It was crazy!"

"Wait," Tucker cried, getting to his feet, "I thought you were mad."

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I wanted to beat your worthless skull into the ground until it was paste. But look where we are now! You took a risk and it paid off."

"Paid off?! Dude, two of our guys are dead!"

"And two more will probably die tomorrow," Felix gave a dismissive shrug, "Seriously, what don't you people get about that?"

"That's enough, Felix," Kimball warned, stepping into her office.

Felix coughed and stepped aside, "Just sayin'..."

Once Kimball was behind her desk, she began her address to the Spartans while still facing the huge screen on the wall, "Tucker, your choice cost two men their lives... but it also granted us access to valuable information. Whether or not this was the right thing to do is a conclusion you'll have to come to on your own. I'll leave it at that. Right now, the seven of us need to have a little talk."

"Could it not be as depressing as the talk we're having right now?" Grif asked.

Not really listening to him, Kimball turned to the group, a smile crossing her face, "I know where your friends are."

At once, the Reds and Blues broke into an amazed uproar.

"You do?!" Simmons gasped.

"Whoa," Grif breathed.

"Sweet!" Rhode fist pumped.

"Yay, I have friends!" Caboose cheered.

"Whoa," Felix cried out, breaking the joy, "When did this happen?!"

"I kept digging through the files Tucker brought back," Kimball explained, "There wasn't much to go off, but eventually I found them. And from the looks of it, they've been moved around a bit."

"Finally, we can rescue Sarge and everything will go back to normal!" Simmons turned to his teammate with a huge grin, "Isn't that great, Grif?"

"'Great' is a strong word, Simmons," Grif replied, "I would've gone with 'tolerable'."

"Don't celebrate just yet," Kimball warned, killing the mood, "As I said, they've been moving around fairly regularly and from the looks of things, it isn't going to stop."

She brought up a holographic map on the screen behind her desk and pointed to one sector, "Right now, they're being held in a compound just north of a nearby mountain range, but in about a week, it sounds like they'll be transferred to the capital, a place that is very, very out of our reach."

"So then we go get them now," Rhode declared, "Is that... a thing we can do, right?"

"The compound she's talking about is twice the size of the one you, Tucker, and I raided," Felix told them grimly, "Breaking in would be suicide. Breaking someone out would be... like suicide and a bunch of puppies dying."

Tucker gulped, "How do you know?"

"Because I've tried," Felix replied, "And uh, spoiler alert, it didn't go well."

"Were the puppies okay?" Caboose asked.

Felix sighed and shook his head, "Kimball, please talk some sense into these guys."

"Yes, I'm sorry," Caboose chipped in, "Can we get back to the puppies?"

Kimball switched off her screen then she stepped around her desk and addressed the Blood Gulch Crew, "When I first heard about you guys, I envisioned strong, daring, respectable soldiers..."

"But?" Grif hinted.

"But, now that I've come to know you, I found that you're something else entirely. It turns out you're all a bunch of-"

"Cowards," Simmons said.

"Losers," Tucker added.

"Idiots?" Grif asked.

"Morons?" Rhode suggested.

"Spacemen," Caboose put in.

"Misfits," Kimball finished, "You're oddballs that don't exactly fit in, which is why my men all look up to you and why morale has been at an all time high. Because they can relate to you, because together we're an army of underdogs and outcasts. No offense Rhode."

"None taken," Rhode shrugged.

Her tone suddenly became serious, "But as of right now, I cannot authorize a rescue mission of this scale."

The Reds and Blues swapped disappointed looks, but Tucker wasn't surprised at all. Once again, his hopes of rescuing his friends had come crashing down.

But Kimball wasn't finished, "Interestingly enough, you work well when you fight together. But individually, you still haven't shown what it takes to lead others... which is why I am giving you five days; five days to assemble a smaller team, one comprised of the best of each of your platoons. And if you can convince me that you're ready by the end of those five days, then you will have my support."

At this, Tucker's hopes suddenly rose high, but not by much, "Five days?!"

"That's not really a lot of time," Grif agreed.

Kimball shrugged, "Well... it's all you've got, and it starts tomorrow."

Felix glanced at the Spartans then he cleared his throat, "Yeah, um, if this is really happening, I'd like to be paid in advance."

 **XXX**

That evening, inside their joint sleeping quarters, the Blood Gulch Crew sat on their beds, thinking over Kimball's proposition. Their room had two separate sets of bunk-beds and one single bed; one bunk for the Reds and the other one for the Blues. Rhode got the single bed.

Caboose lay on his back on the top of the Blues' bunk, hands behind his head; Tucker sat on the edge of his bed on the bottom, his mind in thought; Simmons stood next the bottom of the Reds' bunk, rubbing grease into the cyborg parts in his arms; Rhode leaned against the wall, his arms crossed next to his single bed; and Grif lay on the top bunk, eating his fifth pack of Oreos.

"Five days," Grif muttered, between mouthfuls of Oreo, "Five freaking days. My naps take longer than five days."

"Yeah, and President's Day is Monday," Caboose noted, "So we can't expect people to come in on a holiday because that would be time and a half. And-"

He broke off with a gasp and sat up in his bed, "Oh my God, that would be five and a half days!"

Just then, the door slid open and Felix came into the room, "Take my advice, gentlemen; live to fight another day."

"I think I like you better when you thought we we super soldiers," Grif scowled.

Rhode then noticed that Felix was holding a futuristic gun in his hands, "Hey, what's up with that?"

"This is my plasma rifle," Felix replied, "Part of my cut from the hit and run."

"Your cut?" Simmons asked.

"You think these guys have any money lying around? Yeah, right," Felix scoffed, "They pay me in old alien tech. The whole reason Chorus was chosen for colonization was because it showed promising signs of extraterrestrial artifacts. Turns out the UNSC was right; too bad they abandoned the place. But hey, their loss is my very shiny, very valuable gain."

"Wait," Tucker cried, getting to his feet, "Why steal weapons and ammo when we can just use this space laser crap?"

"Because they don't work, genius." So saying, Felix pointed his rifle at Tucker's head and pulled the trigger, making everyone flinch... but the gun just clicked, "See? They're busted. But I'm willing to bet that someone out there would be happy to pay a very large sum of money for these babies!"

"Uh, yeah, wait, I'm sorry, I'm confused," Caboose cut in, "Are they, are they babies or are they lasers? Or are-are they laser babies?"

"Shut up, Caboose," Rhode snapped, smacking his teammate's arm.

"While we're talking business," Felix continued, "If you guys are serious about rescuing your friends by the end of the week, I could always be persuaded to increase my level of assistance, for a one time fee of course."

His eyes wandered over to the Spartans' suits of armor, "Maybe something along the lines of an alien energy sword, hmm? Any takers? Tucker?"

"I don't think so," Tucker retorted, snatching his sword away, "If you like the New Republic so much, how come you still charge them for your help?"

"Because when I retire, I want a television the size of a billboard."

Grif let out a long whistle, "That's freaking awesome!"

"Well, that's gonna be bad for your eyes," Caboose added.

"I'm just saying, you could always help us out for free," Tucker said, "You know, mix it up a little!"

"Ah, hmm..." Felix rubbed his chin in thought, "Okay, so you want me to help you rescue your friends, because... what? It's the right thing to do?"

"Yeah," Rhode replied crossly, "It's called 'not being a jerk'."

"Hmm," Felix turned to the Spartans with a derisive look, "You know, if I recall, the first time these people ever asked you for help, you turned them down, figured this whole 'civil war' thing wasn't your problem. In fact, I bet if your friends had never been captured, you'd still refuse to lend them a hand, even if it was 'the right thing to do.'"

The Blood Gulch Crew looked at each other with slight shame, realizing that Felix had a point.

With a smile, Felix turned to leave the room, pausing at the door, "Everyone has their price. I learned that a long time ago... and you're no exception."

With that, he left the room, leaving the door to shut on the silent team.

 **XXX**

 **Geez that guy's a jerk. But he's kinda got a point. Till next time guys!**


	5. Chapter 4: Teaming with Problems

**Chapter 4: Teaming with Problems**

The next morning, the Blood Gulch Crew, except for Rhode (who didn't have a squad), gathered their respective squads to choose which member would join their elite rescue team, and each member gave their points of reference, some with more gusto than others.

"I just think that..." Matthews stuttered, trying to make his point to his captain, Grif, "If you'd just reconsider, sir. I mean, I've followed your orders since day one, with like the burritos and... And I'd follow you to the end, sir. I really would."

Grif rolled his eyes and turned to his lieutenant, "Bitters, what do I always say?"

"Nobody likes a suck-up," Bitters muttered unenthusiastically.

"Correct," Grif commended, "Nobody likes a suck-up."

"But, sir," Matthews started before getting cut off.

"Matthews, you are in fact a total suck-up," Grif said, "And nobody likes that. Do you like that, Bitters?"

"Nope," Bitters replied lamely.

"See? Bitters doesn't like that, 'cos Bitters here is a maverick, a loose cannon. And everybody loves loose cannons. I'm a bit of a loose cannon myself, aren't I, Bitters?"

"Actually, I'm starting to think you're kinda lazy."

"Ha! See that? Total loose cannon response." Grif chuckled and patted his lieutenant's shoulder, "I respect that, Bitters."

"Whatever," Bitters sighed.

"So," Grif concluded, "as much as it pains me inside, I'm afraid I must deny your request to join our elite team, Matthews."

"Alright, sir," Matthews whimpered, turning to leave, "Whatever you say."

And with a sniff, he left.

Grif sighed and shook his head, "Even in defeat, he's such a suck-up."

"Grif, hurry up!" Simmons voice rang out.

"Speaking of which," Grif added with a smirk, "Go join the rest of our team, Bitters. We're about to get started."

"Whatever," Bitters muttered, lining up with the other three soldiers while Grif went to join his friends.

 **XXX**

Once everyone was assembled, Rhode began the introductions, "Hello, welcome everyone. Thank you for joining us here. Um, why don't we just go down the line and introduce ourselves?"

"Um, hello," Caboose called out, "Um, yes. My name is Michael J. Caboose."

"Hi, Michael," the four soldiers replied, like AA members.

"No, he means the recruits," Simmons cut in, "Why do we need to introduce ourselves? They already know us."

"Yes," Caboose agreed, "But do they know the 'real' us?"

"What does that even mean?" Tucker asked puzzled.

"Well, that is a very interesting question, Tucker," Caboose replied, "Why don't you elaborate on those feelings?"

"Oh my God, shut up!" Tucker groaned, slapping Caboose on the back of his helmet then he turned to the soldiers, "Just state your name."

"And tell us a fun fact about yourself," Simmons added.

"Really?" Grif asked in disbelief.

Before Simmons could make a snappy retort, Smith cleared his throat and raised his hand, "Permission to speak, sir."

"Uh, go for it," Rhode replied.

"Thank you, sir." Smith stepped forward and gave a stiff salute, "Lieutenant John-"

"Hey, G.I. Joe, could you drop the act?" Grif interrupted sharply, "We don't have all day."

"Oh, um, very good, sir," Smith muttered, lowering his hand, "My friends call me Smith. I've served the New Republic faithfully for several years, and I believe Captain Caboose is one of the wisest individuals I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Sir!"

He added with another salute.

"Great," Grif groaned, visor-palming, "Another suck-up."

Simmons swapped a baffled look with Tucker, "You mean our Caboose?"

"Yes, sir," Smith replied.

"This one right here?" Simmons pointed to Caboose.

"Correct."

"...The blue one?"

"Okay, moving on," Rhode cut in quickly, "Next."

Jensen stepped forward next, "Hello, everyone. I'm Katie Jenthon. I enjoy vehicle maintenanthe, biology, uh-"

She suddenly broke off with a choking gasp, grabbing her throat, and collapsing to the ground.

Grif frowned, "Uh, should we do something?"

Finally, Jensen stood up, gasping for breath, "Thorry, choked on my own thpit."

Tucker turned slowly to his maroon mate, "Simmons, what the crap is this?"

"It was either her or the really hot one that plays volleyball," Simmons blurted out.

"Then what the crap is this?!"

"She makes me less nervous, okay!" Simmons snapped, covering his visor with both hands, "Just leave me alone!"

"Next!" Rhode shouted.

Bitters trundled forward with little panache, "I'm Bitters. My fun fact is that I don't have a... fun fact."

Grif beamed at this, "Total. Maverick!"

"And last but not least," Palomo then chipped in, making Tucker groan, "Private Palomo, slayer of women, wooer of evil! Wait..."

"Is that your fun fact?" Simmons asked.

"No, uh..." Palomo scratched his helmet in thought, "Oh! I'm the only surviving member of Green Team. Suck on that!"

"I freaking hate you, Palomo," Tucker growled.

"Alright," Rhode went on with the briefing, "As you've all been informed, this team has come together for the sole purpose of rescuing the remaining survivors of a UNSC shipwreck from several months back. We all know them as Donut, Agent Washington, and Sarge."

"And maybe a Spanish robot named Lopez," Grif added.

"And maybe an adorable robot named Freckles," Caboose put in.

"Yeah, yeah, we get it," Tucker cried, "The point is, we've only got five days to train you guys, so we're getting started right now! Now, any questions?"

"Yeah," Smith said, "Who is leading this team?"

"I am!" the four Reds and Blues cried out, immediately swapping baffled looks.

"Uh, what?" Tucker asked.

"Well, I'm obviously the one who should be leading this," Simmons replied. "I'm the most logical of the group."

"Bullcrap!"

"I'm the one who set up this entire meeting."

"Yeah," Grif scoffed, "And this meeting blows."

"Wait," Simmons cried, "Why do you wanna be the leader?"

"Well, I'm really starting to get used to all this praise and pampering," Grif said, "And I don't wanna risk losing it all to one of you jerks."

"I could always praise and pamper you, sir!" Matthews called down from above.

"Gosh dang it, Matthews!" Grif bellowed, "What did we just talk about?!"

"Count me out of this decision," Rhode stated to the soldiers, "I have no real experience with being a leader to be honest. I will probably likely lead this group to an earlier death that the majority of my teammates here."

"What about Caboose?" Grif asked.

"There's a reason I said 'majority'."

"Well, I think there's an easy way to settle this," Caboose decided, "Raise your hand if you were the leader of a team any time before joining this army."

"Oh, whatever," Simmons snapped, "That was a fluke!"

"Yep, and I forgot to raise my hand."

"Hey," Tucker butted in, "If you're looking for experience, so far I'm the only one who's been on an actual mission."

Grif quickly started coughing, adding in, "Two people died," between coughs.

"Excuse me, sirs," Smith cut in, "We could always vote."

The five Spartans looked at each other and they quickly decided that was a good idea.

 **XXX**

First on the platform was Simmons.

"My fellow soldiers," he stated proudly, "If you elect me as your leader, you're not just voting for a kind, well-mannered leader, you're voting for victory. I've overseen countless skirmishes and calculated my opponent's every move. And although some people may not count Dungeons Dragons as an acceptable example of military expertise, I beg to differ. A vote for Dick Simmons is a vote for America!"

"Is he running for leader," Rhode muttered, "Or president?"

"But we're not in America," Palomo pointed out.

Simmons deflated at that remark. "Crap!"

 **XXX**

Next up was Caboose, whose statements were utterly less helpful than Simmons' speech, "...And I will put Kool-Aids in all the water fountains! And we won't have to wear uniforms anymore! And Principal Kimball will allow us... double recess! Recess, recess, recess..."

"Caboose, you're not running for class president," Tucker groaned.

"No, don't you see?" Smith cut in with breathless gusto, "We won't need uniforms anymore because the war will finally be over. Kimball will send us out into the world and we'll never have to raise another gun ever again."

He looked up at Caboose with shining eyes, "My God, he has such a way with words!"

"Is this guy for real?" Grif snorted.

"Wait," Simmons cut in, "What about the Kool-Aid in the water fountains?"

"Oh yeah," Smith realized, "That sounds awesome."

 **XXX**

Then it was the turn of Grif, who simply stated, "Dibs!"

"What?" Simmons cried.

"I call dibs on the team. Dibs."

"You can't call dibs on the team!" Tucker shouted.

"You sure?"

"Grif!" Rhode yelled.

"Alright, whatever," Grif muttered crossly, stepping off the platform, "I don't wanna be leader anyway."

 **(Author's Note: Could someone please run a check on the International Dibs Protocol and see if team leadership isn't listed there?)**

 **XXX**

And finally it was Tucker's turn, "S'up, guys, Tucker here."

He paused for a moment, "Uh, speech... speech... Oh! I've always said I'm a lover and not a fighter."

He smiled and winked at Jensen, "I'm lookin' at you, Jensen."

"Me?" Jensen asked.

"Yeah, tell your volleyball friend I said that. Anyways-"

"Oh, please God," a voice cut in, "Tell me you guys haven't been standing around talking all morning."

Tucker turned and spotted Felix standing by the platform, shaking his head in dismay.

"It's kind of what we do," Rhode admitted.

A look of anger crossed the aqua Spartan's face then turned back to the lieutenants, "Alright, look, you want the truth? I don't wanna be your leader. Being a leader totally sucks. It's hard work, and you have to put up with people you hate! But I wanna get my friends back and seeing as that's our mission, I will deal with whatever bullcrap I have to do to make it happen!"

He turned to rejoin his friends but then stopped, "And if I was holding a mic, this would be the part where I drop it."

The recruits were silent for a moment, swapping thoughtful looks.

"I vote for Tucker," Jensen decided.

"Yeah, I vote for Tucker," Bitters replied reluctantly.

"Me too," Smith agreed.

"Yeah," Palomo added.

"Congratulations, Tucker!" Grif cheered mockingly, "You got the job, that you hate."

"Yeah, great, happy for you," Felix agreed, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he began to slow-clap, "So did you guys wanna start training at some point? Or, sorry, would you prefer to keep messing around? Because by all means, I could watch this train wreck all day. Really, it's like the Hindenburg disaster, ya ever see that? Just absolutely breathtaking... until you realize everyone's screwed."

 **XXX**

 **Yeah... It was... Man, I have a messed up mind. Till next time guys!**


	6. Chapter 5: Training Daze

**Chapter 5: Training Daze**

With delicate fingers, Simmons finished his work on Smith's helmet before handing it back to him, "Okay, put it on then press the button on your left cheek. Everyone else, press yours too."

Smith did so and the other soldiers watched as a small red light began to flash in the top of his visor. Then they looked at each other and saw the light on their visors too.

"Eureka!" Jensen cheered.

"Is it working?" Palomo asked then he yelled, "Hello! Can you hear me?"

"Yes!" Bitters snapped, "Jesus. What's the point of this again?"

"This is going to make you all better fighters," Tucker explained, "Tell 'em, Simmons."

"Jensen and I have installed capture software into all of our helmets," Simmons explained, "allowing us to transmit what we saw on the battlefield to a local server."

"Wait," Palomo interrupted, "Do they only record on the battlefield, or are they recording all the time?"

"All the time, duh."

"Uh, I don't know how I feel about that."

"Dude, it's fine," Tucker reassured.

"But what if it records us doing something embarrassing?" At that point, Palomo's eyes wandered in a certain direction, "Like looking at Jensen's butt or something?"

"Ekthcuse me?" Jensen cried.

"Just don't look at Jensen's butt, Palomo," Simmons sighed.

"Well, now I'm way more aware of her butt than usual, and it's throwing me off."

"Palomo!" Tucker snapped.

"You know what?" Palomo quickly stated, turning his head away from Jensen, "I'm just going to look at the ceiling."

"I still don't see how this is supposed to make us any better," Bitters said.

"It's like this," Tucker explained, "Sometimes you're with a lady, right? And she wants to spice things up. So you're like boom! Video camera. And she's into it and then you're like, 'Ohh yeah!' But what's even better is that later you can go back and look at those tapes and figure out what was really working and what you can do better."

"So, it's like football coaches reviewing clips of past games?" Smith put in.

"Uh... Sure, if you're into football coaches and that works better for you, I guess. No judgements."

Just then, Grif joined the group, "All right, we're good to go."

"You set up the training weapons?" Simmons asked.

"I told someone else to set up the training weapons."

"You make a great manager."

"I've said it for years."

"Oh sorry, I meant terrible," Simmons corrected, "You make a terrible manager."

"Whatever," Grif dismissed, "You say tomato, I order a subordinate to say to-mah-to."

"Okay," Tucker declared, clapping his hands together, "So our mission today will be to disarm and apprehend an enemy soldier. And Rhode can't join, 'cause he's, you know, Rhode."

"Which is bullcrap!" Rhode yelled from a ways off, "I'm part of this too!"

"Take out one guy?" Smith asked, "That's do-able."

"With any other soldier, yes. But our target is Felix."

Nearby, Felix was sitting on a crate, sharping his knife when he heard Tucker's statement, "Uh, what?"

"If we can take out the best fighter in the New Republic, I say we stand a pretty good chance against any one of those Feds."

"Yeah, I didn't agree to this," Felix argued, sheathing his knife.

"You don't have to," Tucker replied, "Just do what you normally do, but know that you'll have a giant bulls-eye painted across your back."

"Alright, fine," Felix retorted, getting to his feet, "Bring it on, tough guy. You don't have a chance without your Freelancer."

"I will. And when we capture you, you're gonna tell Kimball that we're approved for the mission."

"Fine!"

"Good!"

"Great!" Felix then fell silent.

Tucker frowned, "So... are you just going to stand there, or what?"

"No, I was sticking my tongue out at you," Felix replied rather sheepishly, "But, I-I guess I'm wearing a helmet. So... shut up."

With that, he turned and walked away.

Tucker turned to the others and smiled, "We got this."

 **XXX**

Later that day, the Reds and Blues and their squad gathered in the monitoring room, meeting up with two New Republic soldiers next to a widescreen TV.

"Thanks for joining us, everyone," said one soldier, named McCallister, whose armor had green trim, "Private Ghanoush and I were given the task of editing down all of the footage from your training session."

The other soldier, Ghanoush, who had black trim on his armor, nodded, "We took what we believed to be the more... 'eye-opening' moments from today's event, in hopes that they might help you strategize more in the future."

"Like a highlight reel?" Simmons asked.

"Like a reel," McCallister corrected.

"Why don't we get started?" Ghanoush said, switching on the TV and pressing some buttons.

 **XXX**

At once, the screen lit up, showing static at first, but then an image appeared, showing Smith and Bitters gathered in a room.

"Hey guys!" Palomo's voice called out, "Welcome to my helmet cam! Uh... today, we're gonna be trying to take down Felix. Sooo, let's see how it goes. Could be bad. Could be good. Could be in the middle."

"Who are you talking to?" Smith asked.

"Uh, the audience."

The image then cut to a shot through Bitters' camera, "What audience? We're recording this for ourselves. You're the audience!"

Cut back to Palomo's POV, "Oh yeah! Hi me!"

"Hi, Palomo," called Palomo, waving at the screen.

 **XXX**

"Can we skip this part?" Tucker groaned.

"Sure!" McCallister fast-forwarded the image, muttering to himself, "Not like we worked hard on this or anything."

"Huh?" Tucker asked.

"Nothing," McCallister replied.

 **XXX**

The video then continued through Tucker's video camera, as he, the other captains and their recruits hid behind some rocks, spying on Felix who was talking to two New Republic soldiers.

It then cut to Grif's cam as Tucker crouched down, "Okay, Felix is right there."

Grif moved his camera to his lieutenant, "Bitters, hand me a flashbang."

"Ohhh right, um," Bitters muttered, "About that..."

Cut to Tucker's cam, as Felix walked away, "Hurry up, he's getting away!"

Cut to Bitters' POV, "I don't have any."

"I told you to grab them!" Grif snapped.

"Yeah, I wasn't really listening."

"What?!"

Cut to Simmons' POV, "World's. Worst. Manager."

"Let's not argue semantics, Simmons," Grif growled.

"That's not what that word means," Bitters said.

Cut to Tucker's POV, "Does anyone have a grenade?"

Cut to Smith's POV, "I gave mine to Caboose."

"You what?!" Tucker cried.

Cut to Caboose's POV, "Fire in the hole."

He tossed the grenade which bounced off the rock he was hiding behind and then exploded in a blinding flash of light.

The rest of the video was blotted by static on all cameras, but the squad's screams of agony and disbelief could still be heard.

 **XXX**

McCallister burst out laughing, "Freaking idiot!"

"Yeah," Ghanoush chortled, "I could watch this for hours!"

Even Rhode snickered a bit.

"Jesus Christ," Grif moaned, "How long is this video?"

"Hours! I just said it! Pay attention!"

"Does it get any better?" Simmons groaned, visor-palming.

"Define 'better'," McCallister replied.

"Come on, let's go," Tucker sighed.

"Go where?" Grif asked.

"To try this again," Tucker replied, leading the squad out.

As he watched them go, Ganoosh rubbed his hands in delight, "This is gonna be good."

"I'll make some popcorn," McCallister said.

"I'll get the butter," Rhode laughed.

 **XXX**

For the next couple of days, Tucker, Caboose, Simmons and Grif continued training their squad, hoping that at least one of their videos would show Kimball that they were improving. They ran laps around the base, with Caboose running far in the lead and Grif lagging far, far behind. They did push-ups, even though Grif and Bitters always sat to the side, counting off idly with the others. And after each session, they had another go at taking out Felix.

But no matter how hard they tried, Ghanoush and McCallister only seemed to choose the most embarrassing footage to edit into their tape.

 **XXX**

One shot, for example, showed Tucker's POV as he crept up on Felix who was chatting to the Medic.

"What if I am too good-looking?" Felix asked, leaning against the wall with one hand, "I mean, i-it's possible to scientific-"

Then Tucker charged out of hiding, screaming at the top of his voice, only to smack right into Felix's hardlight shield and crash to the ground, "No fair."

 **XXX**

It then cut to Simmons' POV as he, Grif, Smith and Palomo spied on Felix from on top of a hill, "He's holding a training gun, right?"

Smith stood up to take a look, only to get shot in the shoulder and sent flying back, "OW! Yes, sir."

"Well, that's good to know," Palomo murmured.

 **XXX**

And after watching the video, both the editing soldiers and Rhode never failed to burst out laughing.

"What a dope!" Ghanoush chortled after one such viewing.

Even Caboose started to laugh, finishing with, "Yeah, I don't get it."

And each time, Tucker would get angry and lead the team out for more training.

 **XXX**

By the end of the fourth day, the video that Ganoosh and McCallister compiled now looked more like an entry to America's Funniest Home Videos.

 **XXX**

It started with Tucker leaping out from behind some crates to catch Felix - "Surprise, moron!" - only to fly right over his head, fall right off a cliff and land with a splash in the lake below.

 **XXX**

It then cut to Jensen's POV as she spied on Felix from afar, "Target thighted. Headed towardth- AH-CHOO!"

Her camera was then blotted out with her sneeze, "Uh... anyone elthe have eyeth on the target?"

Cut to Smith's POV, "Negative."

Cut to Bitters' cam, "Uh no."

Cut to Palomo's POV as he looked at Jensen's butt, "Yeah, I got nothin'."

 **XXX**

By now, it wasn't just Ghanoush, McCallister, and Rhode who were watching; several other New Republic soldiers had gathered to watch the video.

Jensen turned to glare at Palomo, who quickly turned away, "Lookin' at the ceiling!"

 **XXX**

The video then showed Tucker's POV as he ran towards Felix, "Hey Felix, catch!"

He then tossed a grenade out, but to his surprise, Felix actually caught it then started counting, "One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi..."

"Oh no!" Tucker cried, turning to run for it, "No, no, no, no, no!"

But a split-second later, the grenade landed at his feet and immediately exploded, cutting out his footage.

 **XXX**

It then cut to Grif's POV as he watched Felix from behind a wall and then turned to Simmons, who, using his hand, pointed out with two fingers, then mimed walking followed by waving on the ground and finished with a few finger snaps.

"At what point do you think I knew what that meant?" Grif asked puzzled.

Then Felix entered the room and quickly noticed them.

"Ah crap," Grif muttered, moments before Felix punched him in the face and cut out his video.

 **XXX**

It wasn't the end of the video, but everyone was too busy laughing their butts off to continue watching.

At the back, Grif winced in dismay, Simmons did a visor-palm, and Tucker just covered his head in his hands. Caboose, of course, was too dim to understand what everyone was laughing about.

But the recruits were starting to chuckle too, more at their captains than at themselves.

"Okay, that was actually pretty funny," Smith chuckled.

Angry and embarrassed, Tucker left the bunker and spotted Felix sitting on a crate at the back, "Hey, you!"

"You know," Felix snickered, "I have to admit, I've never seen these guys laugh so much before."

"Why are you being so hard on us?!" Tucker snapped.

"Come again?"

"All we need is a green light from you, and Kimball lets us save our friends. So why the heck can't you just lighten up for once?!"

"Because you will die!" Felix yelled.

Tucker stopped, shocked at that outburst.

Felix sighed and got off the crate, "You know, for people who've done so much, you really are just a bunch of idiots, aren't you?"

"That's what we said from the start!" Tucker cried.

"So then why are you trying to still be something you're not?!" Felix countered.

"FELIX!" came Kimball's bellow from behind them.

Felix gave another sigh and shook his head, "Whether you go or not is ultimately up to her. But risking the lives of more people... that's on you."

"I thought you didn't care about losing people," Tucker recalled.

"I don't," Felix confirmed, "But you do."

And he turned and left.

Kimball then approached Tucker, "We need to talk."

"Can it not be as depressing as the talk we're having right now?" Tucker sighed.

"Well, I can't make any promises," Kimball replied, leading Tucker away.

 **XXX**

 **That was funny. Nobody can deny it. Till next time guys!**


	7. Chapter 6: Reflections

**Chapter 6: Reflections**

Instead of heading into her office, Kimball led Tucker down a long tunnel until they came out onto a ledge overlooking a vast underground lake lit up by glowing patches of greenery.

"I like to come down here when I need to think," Kimball explained, sitting on the edge of the balcony, "It's peaceful."

Tucker glanced around in wonder, "It's really... glowy."

"That's the algae," Kimball replied, "Don't touch it, it's radioactive."

"Oh," Tucker quickly drew his hand away from a patch of algae and sat down next to Kimball, "Tranquil."

They sat in silence for a few seconds, then Kimball spoke, "Tucker, I'd like to apologize for Felix's behavior. He was out of line."

"Yeah, he's kind of a jerk," Tucker agreed.

"He's just worried."

"Riiight," Tucker drawled sarcastically, "I could really feel his concern when he dislocated my shoulder yesterday."

"He puts on a tough guy act, but... deep down, I know he cares about you guys."

Tucker shook his head, "Kimball, I hate to break it to you, but the dude doesn't give a crap about any of this. He's just in it for the money."

Kimball sighed and bowed her head, "It's... more complicated than that."

"Oh," Tucker gave a crooked smile, "Are you dating?"

"Jesus, no!" Kimball yelled.

"Just sayin'. Guy does stuff for money..."

"We are not dating!"

Tucker slyly cocked his head to one side, suddenly interested, "So, you're single~?"

"Shut up!" Kimball snapped, smacking his hand.

She took a breath to calm down then continued, "Felix may not be fighting for the same reasons we are, but he has more than enough motivation to win this war."

"What do you mean?"

Kimball turned and looked out at the lake, "Things weren't always this bad. The tides have turned time and time again, and we've come so close to victory, only to be pushed back to the brink of defeat. But whenever things looked their worst, Felix was there with vehicles or weapons or even just a plan of attack."

She turned back to the aqua Spartan, "I never wanted to be a soldier, Tucker. None of us did. But Felix? He chose this lifestyle and he chose it because he's good at it."

"You know, for his boss," Tucker noted, "you really make it sound like you need him more than he needs you."

"Well, I wasn't always his boss," Kimball admitted, "He was in this fight before I was even an officer."

Tucker raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"Tucker, I am the fourth person to lead the New Republic."

His other eyebrow went up, "And I repeat, what?!"

"Our first leader was killed in action. The second was assassinated at what we had been told would be a peace treaty, and the third was blown out of the sky while trying to leave Chorus for help."

Kimball turned to Tucker, only to find that he had shuffled himself several feet away from her, "What are you doing?"

"Call me crazy, but I suddenly don't feel as safe around you," Tucker replied.

Kimball chuckled, "I guess my position does have a pretty quick turnover."

"Okay," Tucker beamed, shuffling right next to her, interested again, "Now you're talking my language!"

"Touch me, and you'll sink to the bottom of the lake," she warned.

"No touching!" Tucker yelped, shuffling a few inches away.

"That's what I thought."

"So Felix has been on the rebels' payroll for a long time. What makes you think he won't just up and leave whenever he's made enough money? I know I would..." Tucker broke off nervously when he caught Kimball's glare, "Hahaha, I mean, if I wasn't so invested in your cause."

"Like I said, Felix has more than enough motivation to win this war. The thing that keeps him going?" Kimball paused for a moment then turned to Tucker, "It's the same thing that's kept us from victory for so long. It's what took your friends... It's Locus."

Tucker's eyes became wider than a Warthog's tires and his jaw dropped, "Whaaaat?!"

 **XXX**

"Men! Front and center on the double!"

At this angered command, the four recruits came running out of their sleeping quarters and lined up in front of Grif, who was tapping his foot in anger.

"Is something wrong, sir?" Smith asked

"Oh, you better believe something is wrong, Private Smith!" Grif retorted.

"Wait, I thought we were lieutenants," Bitters cut in.

"I'm a private," Palomo added.

"Lieutenant, private, whatever!" Grif snapped, "Just listen to your captain!"

"I thought Tucker was our captain," Bitters interrupted again.

"No, Tucker is our leader," Palomo corrected, "I think Grif's still a captain."

"Are we thtill lieutenantth?" Jensen put in.

"Well, I don't see why not," Smith replied with a shrug.

"Yeah, is this the line for the bathroom?" Caboose spoke up, having joined the recruits.

"JUST LISTEN TO YOUR CAPTAIN!" Grif bellowed.

Hearing the racket, Rhode and Simmons came in, "Okay, I'll bite. What's going on?"

"We have had a major breach of security, guys!" Grif explained furiously, "A major freaking breach!"

Rhode frowned, "We have?"

"Someone from this squad has stolen from my very secret and very personal food stash."

"Oh, right," Simmons stated sarcastically, "God help us if you only have nine meals a day."

"Oh, this wasn't just petty theft, Simmons," Grif growled, "This was murder."

"Uh, yeah, uh, I didn't do it!" Caboose cried out, "Now we all agree that it was the tank's fault."

The recruits all stared at him in confusion, "What?"

"Focus, people!" Grif yelled, getting their attention back, "A little, dabby, jelly cream pie I've been saving for emergencies is now missing and presumed eaten!"

"No!" Simmons gasped in mock horror, "I don't believe it!"

"Neither can I!" Grif retorted, too angry to notice Simmons' sarcasm.

"You've knowingly had food within arm's reach and haven't eaten it yet?"

"I have been hiding it since basic training, Simmons."

"Wait..." Simmons grimaced, "But that would mean it was... years old?!"

"How many years?" Rhode asked, equally stunned.

"Let's not get into specifics," Simmons said quickly, "Let's just say it's old."

"And still so young," Grif sniffed.

"That's disgusting."

"Oh, I know!" Grif yelled, getting over his despair quite fast, "But we're about to find the sick idiot, so don't you worry about that!"

"Yeah, he's probably got indigestion."

"Yeah, even though we all blame the tank," Caboose added, "I kinda feel like Church had something to do with it too."

"You see, only one man in this squad knew about my food locker. He'd seen it after every training mission I gave him while he was in my squad," Grif paced down the lined up recruits, "After every single raid on the mess hall, he reported back to me and I thought I could trust him, but it turns out I was wrong. Isn't that right..."

He raised his arm and pointed it out at his suspect, "Bitters!"

The others turned to face Bitters, and Grif's eyes narrowed, "Well, what do you have to say for yourself?!"

Bitters just gave a nauseous burp and his face turned green, "I think my stomach is dying..."

"Darn it, Bitters!" Grif snapped, "I thought you were cool! But it turns out you're nothing but a lazy, good-for-nothing, dirtbag!"

"Hey!" Matthews yelled, running out of his bunk, "Leave him alone!"

"Shut it, Simmons!" Grif screamed.

Matthews blinked in confusion, "Si-Simmons?"

"Oh, wait," Grif suddenly corrected, "I-I mean..."

"Grif," Simmons gasped, in genuine disbelief this time, "You're starting to sound like Sarge."

"What the...? I..." Grif stared down at his hands in complete horror, "Simmons, what is happening to me?"

"I think you're having a mental breakdown!"

"Yeah, those are my favorite kind," Caboose said, earning a smack on the head from Rhode.

Ignoring him, Simmons grabbed his teammate's shoulders and stared right into his eyes, "Being thrust into a position of power must be putting too much stress on your brain! Now it's defaulting to what you subconsciously perceive to be the symbol of leadership: Sarge!"

Grif pulled back in alarm and stared around him frantically, "That's not true! That's impossible!"

But he searched his feelings and somehow knew it to be true, and that thought alone was enough to bring him to his knees, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOHOHOOOOOOOOOO!"

The squad just watched in silence before swapping puzzled looks.

"Do you guys have any idea what's going on?" Palomo asked.

"Not in the thlightetht," Jensen admitted.

"I-I think I'm gonna vomit," Bitters groaned, clutching his stomach.

"Groth," Jensen murmured.

"D-don't let me drown in my helmet."

 **XXX**

Tucker shook his head, still in shock, "What does Locus have to do with any of this?"

"When the Federal Army heard we had hired a mercenary to help our side, they decided to do the same," Kimball explained, "But they didn't find just any contract killer. They found Felix's oldest rival. His ex-partner: Locus."

"What?!" Tucker cried, "So you're telling me Felix used to be friends with that psycho?!"

"Not exactly," Kimball gazed out across the lake, remembering the tales Felix had told them when he'd heard of Locus's arrival, "They fought together in the Great War, and their squad saw one of the worst battles in UNSC history. Felix and Locus never got along. They fought over everything, but considering what they were up against, they banded together... and they survived. But surviving isn't always enough."

She closed her eyes and bowed her head, "When the war was over, many soldiers had a difficult time returning to civilian life. And some of them weren't able to return at all. Felix and Locus were always competitive. But when Locus signed up with the Feds, I think Felix took it as a final challenge."

"Final challenge?" Tucker asked.

"Locus knew that his mission would mean killing his former ally, but he took it anyway. Either the money was too good or Locus wanted to know, once and for all, which of them was better. We all have our reasons for fighting, Tucker. And I know that yours are your friends."

Tucker didn't reply.

Kimball let out a breath and got back to her feet, "Your five days are almost up, and I don't know when we're going to get another chance at this."

"You know, I think I respond better to positive reinforcement," Tucker muttered sourly.

"I'm just saying, you should make the most of the time you have left," Kimball smiled and patted Tucker's shoulder, "Your squad may be improving slowly, but they're improving nonetheless. You just need to keep trying."

"Right, because that's been working so well."

Kimball just nodded, "Feel free to come by my office if you ever need anything, Tucker."

And with that, she turned and left.

Tucker sat alone, staring out at the still waters. It was true that his squad were improving, but it was just too slow for him. And trying? All he ever did was try, and never once did they get anywhere closer to succeeding. To make matters worse, Felix, who had praised them the first time he met them, was now criticizing their strategies and making them look like bumbling clowns in front of their own squads. Worst of all, he wouldn't even care if any of their soldiers died on their watch!

That last thought filling his mind with anger, Tucker stood up and lifted his head. It was time to make a decision. Time to stop wasting time and do something!

 **XXX**

The squad members had gone to take Bitters to the medic, leaving their leaders alone. Grif was lying on the ground, still sobbing in despair, Simmons was sitting on a crate nearby, waiting for him to shut up, Rhode watching the situation in amusement, and Caboose, of course, was lost in his own little world.

Then Caboose looked up, "Ah, fun's over. Tucker's back."

Rhode turned and saw the aqua Spartan coming towards them, "So, what's up?"

"Tucker! Tucker, come here!" Grif called out, jumping to his feet.

As Tucker came closer, the orange Spartan grabbed his chest-plate and pulled him closer, a frantic look on his face, "Tell me I'm cool! Tell me I'm lazy and that I don't play by the rules!"

"What?" Tucker asked puzzled.

"I don't wanna Southern accent!" Grif sobbed, burying his head in Tucker's chest.

"Yarr, drop and give me booty!" Caboose growled with a pirate accent.

"That's a pirate accent," Rhode pointed out.

Tucker just raised an eyebrow and turned to Simmons.

"We're dealing with some issues," Simmons explained.

"Well, hurry up and get over it," Tucker said, pushing Grif away, "I need you guys to meet me at the bunks in ten minutes!"

"Why?" Rhode asked as Tucker turned to go, "What's going on?"

Tucker paused and turned to face his friends, "We're leaving."

 **XXX**

 **Ooooh! Now we're getting somewhere! Till next time guys!**


	8. Chapter 7: Self Assessment

**Chapter 7: Self Assessment**

When Simmons, Rhode, Grif, and Caboose came to their bunk a few minutes later, they found Tucker already there, loading his weapons.

"We're here," Simmons announced, "Now what did you mean by 'leaving'? Where are we going?"

"Is it to the park? Ooh I know, it's the beach!" Caboose's joy then faded quite quickly, "Wait a minute, you're not taking me to the vet, are you?"

"No," Tucker replied, holstering his pistol, "We're going to break into that compound tomorrow and bust out our friends."

"But you still have some time left to train the squad," Rhode protested, "Why would we leave now?"

"Because the squad's not coming with us."

"Are they going in a separate car?" Caboose asked.

"No."

"Ah, so they're flying. You know, I have an extra bag to check. Is that gonna be a problem, 'cos-"

"No, Caboose," Tucker cut in, "We're going on this mission alone."

"Alone with the squad. Got it."

Tucker gave an angry sigh, "Grif, could you punch Caboose for me? I'm kinda busy."

"Sure," Grif smacked Caboose on the back of his helmet, "Wait, going alone? Why would we do that?"

"I don't know if you guys have noticed, but our super-elite team sucks," Tucker shook his head, "There's no way they'll be able to pull off a rescue mission."

"We don't know that," Simmons argued, "Kimball could still pass us."

"I'm not talking about passing. I'm talking about our trainees getting blowing up or getting shot or disintegrated or something."

"Oh. Yeah, that's a problem."

Tucker sighed again as he hooked his sword to his belt, "Look, Felix was right. We're just gonna end up getting more people killed."

"So you're saying we should get ourselves killed instead?" Grif asked baffled.

"Hey, we've done crazier things than this," Tucker replied, "Remember that time we fought like a bajillion hundred robots? We didn't mess that up."

"We had Church," Simmons recalled.

"Okay, well, what about C.T.? Or the Meta?"

"We got lucky!"

"Bullcrap! Now maybe we can't teach a bunch of people how to fight, but the five of us can totally pull this off," Tucker turned to his friends with a pleading look on his face, "We're not gonna get another chance like this. We just have to go in and get our guys back. After that, Wash will know what to do."

"Plus," Rhode said, "You had me fight the Meta too. So... There's that."

"But even Felix couldn't break into this place," Simmons reminded him.

"We're not Felix. Felix is smart. The Feds won't be expecting dumb. No offense Rhode."

"I know what you're talking about," Rhode shrugged.

"Hey!" Caboose snapped, "Who are you calling dumb?"

"Shut up," Simmons muttered.

"No, Simmons, I was just asking for some clarification. I'm a little lost."

"Hey, Grif, hit him again," Tucker said.

Grif smacked Caboose on the arm this time.

"Thanks," Tucker sat down on his bed and shook his head, "Look, we keep trying to strategize and use codenames and act like real soldiers, but we're not. We haven't been from the beginning. So why are we trying now?"

He then looked up with a determined expression, "I say we just get in there and do what we do best."

"Uhh, which is...?" Grif hinted.

"I have no idea," Tucker admitted, getting to his feet, "But, uh, whatever it is, it's worked for us before."

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"That's your plan?" Simmons spluttered, "We just show up and wing it? That's the worst plan I ever-"

"Alright," Grif interrupted, "Let's do it."

"What? Grif?" Simmons' eyes widened in shock, "You wanna do this?"

"Yeah. So what?"

"So what? You never wanna do anything. Ever."

"Simmons, I've been following orders I never liked for years."

"No you haven't. You disobey orders all the time."

"Well, I don't wanna be the guy who gives crappy orders that nobody wants to follow," Grif bashed his fist against the wall, "I will not become a Sarge, dang it. There's no way I'm making a bunch of stupid rebels get shot for something I want. So yeah, whatever, let's just do it!"

He held his hand out and Tucker placed his hand on top.

Simmons gave a loud sniff, "That's the most selfless thing you've ever said."

"But I wanna steal more food before we go."

"Okay, that's more like it."

"Yay, mission!" Caboose cheered, joining the pile-up.

"Whatever," Rhode stated, "It's an attempt to rescue our friends. I'm in."

He put his hand in.

"Simmons?" Tucker asked encouragingly.

Simmons became aware that Grif, Rhode, and Caboose were also looking at him.

"Okay, fine," he sighed, putting his hand in as well, "How are we getting there?"

"Ha ha, yes!" Tucker broke off the shake then he pulled out a memory card, "Okay, I snuck into Kimball's office and grabbed all the data I took from the Feds' lab. We've got a map that will lead us straight to them. Now all we need is a ride."

"Vehicle bay's got plenty of Warthogs, I guess," Rhode replied.

"And I can drive a tank!" Caboose added.

"NO!" the others yelled.

"Well, you're all just jealous," Caboose sulked, folding his arms.

"Wait, what about the rebels?" Simmons asked, "I mean, I don't think they'll be happy with us just leaving like this?"

Tucker thought about it for a moment.

Then he stepped out into the corridor where he spotted a computer screen sitting in one corner, "I have an idea..."

 **XXX**

The next morning, Matthews was making his way down to the mess hall when he heard the sound of two vehicles driving away. Quickly he ran into the vehicle bay, only to find a big empty space where two Warthogs originally stood.

Just then, Bitters came in behind him, "Hey Matthews, have you seen the Reds and Blues around? I can't find them."

"No," Matthews replied, approaching the empty space, "But that might explain why two of our jeeps are missing."

It was then that he noticed a tape lying on the floor with a note attached to it reading 'Please show this to Kimball and our squad. The Reds and Blues.'

 **XXX**

The moment, Kimball received the tape, she called in Smith, Palomo, Jensen, and Felix to come into her office. The squad members arrived first so she played the tape for them.

"Hello everyone," came Simmons' voice, "If you're listening to this, it means we're already gone."

"Look," Tucker's voice added, "It's not you, it's us."

"Tell them not to leave the lights on!" Caboose's voice called out.

"Caboose, not now!" Rhode's voice snapped.

"I miss you already!" Caboose's voice shouted, "I promise we'll call!"

And the tape ended.

"Dang it, Tucker," Kimball sighed, frowning sadly.

Palomo looked at the others in dismay, "They just... left us?"

At that moment, Felix entered the office, "Who left us?"

Nobody answered, but Felix looked first at Kimball's angered expression, then at Smith's tear-filled eyes, then Jensen's distraught look, then Bitters and Palomo's sorrowful faces, then finally at the recorded message and he instantly knew what had happened, "Oh no."

 **XXX**

Several miles away, in the middle of a desert, the two Warthogs approached the only building in sight, a gas station, and came to a stop. Tucker and Rhode kept their eyes open for trouble, Caboose just sat back in his seat, and Grif and Simmons were, as usual, having another argument.

"Okay," Simmons was saying, "The ability to fly... north."

"Eh, I don't know," Grif replied with a shrug.

"What do you mean? That's a great 'terrible superpower'."

"Yeah, but you can still fly."

"You can only fly north. It's so inconvenient. Once you land, you still have to walk wherever you're going."

"Mmm, I guess so."

"Okay, what about the ability to teleport... one foot at a time."

"Mmmmm, meh."

"You're meh," Simmons sighed, "This road trip sucks."

Tucker climbed out of the passenger seat of his jeep and stepped towards the station.

"Hello-oh?" he called out, "Anybody home? We got some cars that need fuel!"

"Yeah, we would also like to purchase some lottery tickets!" Caboose added, getting out the driver's seat, "Yeah, I know the odds, but I just, I still think it's just fun."

"This place looks deserted," Rhode muttered, climbing down from the turret.

"Woo hoo, let's loot!" Grif cheered, jumping out the driver's side of his jeep, "I've always wanted my own Slurpee machine."

"Oh dude," Tucker chuckled, "Let me know if they've got any magazines."

"Me too!" Caboose added, "One with pictures!"

"Specifically ones with pictures, if you know what I'm saying."

Suddenly they heard a strange swishing noise coming from a nearby cave.

"What was that?" Simmons asked.

"Maybe it's the owners," Rhode replied.

"Oh man," Grif groaned, "Can't we just pretend they're not here and loot anyway?"

"Hey, Caboose, go tell them they got customers," Tucker ordered, "You guys start filling up the cars."

"Do it yourself," Grif retorted, heading towards the station, "I'm gonna take a leak."

"Oh alright, but be sure to get my lottery ticket," Caboose told him, "My numbers are 5... 7... And don't forget them!"

With that, he set off into the cave.

Tucker shook his head as he picked up the gas pump nozzle and loaded it into his jeep, "I know I said a bunch of inspirational crap back at the base, but it's times like this when I really wonder how we haven't been killed yet. You know?"

"Definitely," Rhode replied.

Simmons didn't reply immediately as he began filling up his tank, "How about, the power to turn into the Hulk... but only when you're asleep."

 **XXX**

Inside the station, Grif wandered down the aisles, a Slurpee cup in one hand and a shopping bag loaded with crisps and Oreos hooked on his elbow.

"Hello? Just here to use the bathroom! Also somebody emptied out your Slurpee machine, might want to get that filled," He paused for a moment as he peeked over the counter, "Man, what kind of gas station doesn't have hot dogs?"

With a shrug, he went round the back of the counter and opened the door, reeling back at the overpowering stench that wafted out, "Phoar-ho-hoh! Jesus, it smells like somebody died in-"

His voice trailed off as he saw the silver-armored body inside the room. "-here?"

The Slurpee cup dropped out of his hand as he stared at the body in horror.

Then he turned and scurried out of the station, "Tucker! Rhode! Simmons!"

 **XXX**

Inside the cave, unaware of Grif's grisly discovery, Caboose wandered through the darkened tunnels, humming softly to himself.

Just then, a mysterious voice rang out ahead of him, "Targets will be arriving in the morning. Do not disappoint me."

"Understood, Control," came another voice, more distinct than the last.

"Huh, I think I hear the sound of some new friends," Caboose muttered, turning round a corner, "Hello?"

Suddenly he felt himself getting pulled back and a hand covering his mouth.

Turning round in shock, he quickly relaxed when he realized who'd grabbed him, "Oh, Rhode! Tucker! Gruff! Simon! Perfect. You can help me and my friends come up with a secret high five!"

"Quiet, Caboose," Tucker hissed, "You want them to see us?"

Cautiously, the Reds and Blues crept around the corner and hurried behind some crates. Peeking over them, they spotted a group of soldiers dressed in black armor standing in a row.

"So what's the word?" one soldier asked.

"Control says to give it thirty more minutes," said the owner of the second voice.

"Ugh, this is a waste of time," groaned another soldier, a female.

"Agreed," the first soldier replied.

"Who are these guys?" Grif hissed.

"Well, they're definitely not the gas station attendants," Tucker replied.

"Wow, Tucker," Grif muttered sarcastically, "I can really see why you're the leader."

"Up. Yours."

"Quiet," Rhode whispered, "I can't hear what they're saying."

"You know what they say," the leader told his men, "Orders are orders."

Just then, the leader's radio switched on and a familiar voice spoke out, "Jackson."

"Yes, Locus," the leader replied.

"Change of plans," Locus informed him, "Report back to base immediately. The Reds and Blues will be requiring... an escort."

"Understood," Jackson switched off the radio and turned to his team, "You heard him, grab your gear and prep for evac."

With that, the soldiers turned and marched off into a nearby tunnel.

"Where are they going?" Caboose asked.

Tucker didn't reply, but jumped out of cover and ran after the soldiers.

"Tucker, wait!" Simmons called out.

As Tucker ran towards the tunnel, he heard the strange whooshing noise again and by the time he reached the tunnel, the soldiers had gone.

Baffled, Tucker turned round as his friends joined him, "They just... vanished."

"Vanished?" Rhode asked puzzled.

"They said something about Reds and Blues," Grif recalled.

"Oh my God, I know those colors!" Caboose cried, "They're us!"

"They were Feds," Tucker muttered, his eyes narrowed, "I heard one of them mention Locus."

"Well, they didn't look like the typical Stormtrooper guys," Simmons noted, "You think they were Special Ops?"

"I think we should get to the base as fast as possible," Rhode decided, heading back the way they'd come, "Come on, let's go."

 **XXX**

 **Mysterious... Unless you've seen this before... Till next time guys!**


	9. Chapter 8: Thin Ice

**Chapter 8: Thin Ice**

Taking a deep breath, Bitters raised his rifle and fired a single shot, but it went wide, missing the traffic cone on the other side of the cave.

"Missed," Palomo stated.

Casting a quick glare at Palomo, Bitters fired another shot but he still couldn't hit the cone.

"Missed," Palomo repeated.

"Palomo, I know when I miss!" Bitters snarled through gritted teeth, firing another shot that went wide.

"Are you missing on purpose?" Palomo asked.

"Oh alright, that's it!" Bitters snapped, swinging his rifle right into Palomo's face.

"OW!" Palomo yelled as Bitters started beating him mercilessly, "Ow! Ow! It was a legitimate question!"

"Am I missing now?!" Bitters taunted.

As Jensen watched the scuffle, she sighed and bowed her head. Ever since their captains plus one had left, the team spirit had fallen an all-time low. Kimball had insisted that they continued their training regardless, but as she'd just seen with Bitters' bad aiming, the recruits were unable to concentrate for long.

At that moment, Smith joined them, looking very depressed, "Well, I spoke to Kimball. Search and rescue has been denied."

"Yeah, well, good riddance," Bitters retorted, taking out his frustration by kicking Palomo in the ribs, "They never cared about us anyway."

"How can you thay that?" Jensen gasped in disbelief, "They left becauthe they didn't want uth getting hurt."

"Yeah, well, what do you call this?" Bitters countered, "They didn't take us to get shot, but they sure as heck left us to die!"

Tears began to well up in Jensen's eyes, "We don't know that, they could come back."

"Their message didn't exactly specify," Smith pointed out.

"They'll come back," Palomo grunted, getting painfully to his feet, "I know they'll come back."

As he took aim at the cones, a shot rang out and one of the cones went flying.

"Nice shot," Bitters breathed.

"Wasn't me," Palomo muttered.

Just then, they heard a cough behind them, and they turned to see Felix coming towards them, holding a smoking rifle in his hands.

"You shouldn't be so hard on the guys," he told the squad, "They did what they thought was best; can't fault them for that. Still, I'm gonna beat the living daylights out of those five when I find them."

"Ooh!" Palomo exclaimed, "Our merc vs. their Freelancer!"

"When you find them?" Smith echoed puzzled, ignoring Palomo.

Felix nodded as he turned to go, "Tell Kimball I'm buying back one of the Warthogs I sold her."

"But Felicth, she thaid we weren't allowed to go after them!" Jensen shouted, "It wath a direct order!"

"Well, orders only work on soldiers," Felix called back, "I am a mercenary."

 **XXX**

After a relatively uneventful journey of several miles, the Reds and Blues had left the desert and entered a snow-covered mountain range. Now they pulled up beside a large metal wall built into a huge crevasse.

"This is it," Rhode announced, "According to our data, the Federal Army base is just on the other side of this wall."

"About time!" Tucker cried, "My butt was asleep for so long, I thought it slipped into a coma!"

The Reds and Blues got out of their jeeps and approached the wall.

"So, we're here," Grif said, "Now what?"

"We bust our way in," Tucker replied, "Anyone have any ideas?"

"We could try scaling the wall?" Simmons suggested.

"Uh, that's a little too obvious. Think dumber."

"We could knock on the door?" Grif replied.

"Too dumb."

"I was joking!" Grif cried.

"We could knock on their door?" Caboose asked.

"I just said that!"

"Yeah, but you were joking. I felt the plan deserved more consideration."

"Hmmm," Rhode looked up the wall, rubbing his chin in thought, "How do you break into an evil ice fortress?"

"You melt it!" Caboose cried, "Like evil ice cream!"

"Holy crap!" Tucker gasped, "We melt our way in!"

"Wait, what?" Rhode said, turning to him in astonishment.

"Wait- what- real-" Caboose couldn't believe his ears, "YES! I WIN!"

"What?" Grif cried, equally baffled.

"We can't go through the wall," Tucker explained, "And going over it is what most people would do, so let's just go under it."

"That's retarded," Grif groaned, visor-palming.

"Exactly!" Tucker chuckled and patted his teammate's shoulder, "Man, I'd never thought I'd say this, I mean ever, seriously, but good job, Caboose!"

"Oh well, I'm just really glad someone appreciates my genius. Now let's start melting!" So saying, Caboose knelt next to the icy tunnel wall and began blowing on it as hard as he could.

"Caboose, you're wearing a helmet," Rhode sighed, "That's not doing anything."

"Okay, well, fine," Caboose panted, getting to his feet, "Then how do you explain my sudden lightheaded... ness.

"What about friction?" Tucker decided, "All the ladies tell me I light a fire between my legs!"

"Friction won't work," Simmons explained, "It's gotta be negative forty degrees Celsius out here."

That statement got confused looks from the others, which made Simmons sigh, "That's negative forty degrees Fahrenheit."

"Jesus, that's cold!" Tucker cried.

"That's freezing!" Grif agreed.

"Not correct, but yeah," Rhode said.

"You people are idiots," Simmons sighed.

"Well, say it in American next time," Grif retorted.

"Oh! I've got it!" Tucker whipped out his energy sword, switched it on and with a swing and a cry of "Stab!", he thrust it right into the icy floor under their feet.

Simmons watched as the ice around the sword began to steam, "Is it working?"

Seconds later, the ice cracked underneath them, and the next thing they knew- "WHOOOOAAAA!" They fell right through the floor and landed in a heap in a metal corridor.

"Ow, it worked!" Simmons grunted, pulling himself out of the pile.

Grif pushed Tucker's legs off his chest and got to his feet, looking around the tunnel, "Where are we?"

"Hey, what was that noise?" came a voice further down the tunnel.

"Oh crap," Tucker gasped, jumping up, "We're inside!"

"I think bad guys are coming!" Caboose hissed.

"What do we do?" Simmons cried in panic, "What do we do?!"

"I don't know!" Tucker yelped. "I didn't think this far ahead!"

"Darn it! This is why winging it is a bad idea!" Simmons grabbed his head in his hands, "No more winging it!"

"I swear, I heard something just around the corner," the voice stated, and footsteps rang out down the corridor.

"Let's get out of here!" Grif cried.

"There could be more guards!" Rhode breathed, "We'll be caught!"

"Well, we've gotta do something!" Simmons whined.

 **XXX**

Further down the tunnel, the Fed soldier who'd heard the noise was making his way towards what he presumed was the source, "Just a few more feet and I'll be there."

Turning a corner, he paused and frowned in confusion, "What the-? Huh."

There, in the middle of the corridor stood five large snowmen, complete with charcoal eyes and mouths and carrots for noses.

"Well, would you look at that?" the Fed chuckled, "Just a couple of harmless snowmen. You guys wouldn't happen to be the ones making all that racket now, would you?"

He laughed at his little joke then he stepped right up to the snowmen and raised his rifle, "Well, time for some target practice."

Suddenly, a steel saber burst out of the nearest snowman, stabbing him right through the chest.

With a gasp, the Fed dropped his rifle and stumbled backwards, clutching his bleeding wound, "But... why, snowman?"

The last thing he saw before he breathed his last was the snowmen suddenly disintegrating and five figures emerging from their remains...

 **XXX**

Quickly, Tucker, Simmons, and Caboose grabbed the dead Fed and buried him under a pile of snow.

"I cannot believe that worked," Rhode chuckled, sheathing his saber.

"Uh, you're welcome," Grif stated bluntly, dusting snow off his armor.

"How did you do that?" Tucker asked

"I used the same trick to hide from Sarge all the time back in Blood Gulch."

Tucker raised an eyebrow, "You constructed and then hid inside of... a snowman, in the middle of a hot canyon?"

"It wasn't always a perfect plan," Grif admitted, "Once, I was in hiding for a grand total of two minutes before the snow melted and Simmons found me."

"I bet I could beat that record," Caboose challenged.

"Remind me if we ever get back to Blood Gulch," Grif replied.

Just then, Simmons came back from his quick reconnaissance of the base, "According to our intel, there's not much standing between the end of this tunnel and the detention facility."

"That's awesome!" Tucker cheered.

"No, I mean there's literally nothing between us," Simmons led the others to the tunnel exit and pointed out the huge empty field between them and the facility, "We'll be spotted as soon as we leave the tunnel."

"I don't know," Tucker muttered, "Doesn't look like there's anyone around to me."

At that very moment, a siren blared out from speakers planted around the outpost.

"Alright, lunch break's over," came a voice from the speakers, "Back to your stations, people."

Just then, several doors slid open and hundreds of Feds came pouring out into the field.

"Come on, maggots, get the lead out!" yelled one soldier driving a Warthog, "Move! Move! Move!"

The Reds and Blues quickly ducked back into the tunnel, moments before a Scorpion-Class tank came rolling past.

"Whoo, brand new tank coming in!" yelled the driver, "This will kill any intruders for sure!"

"That was oddly specific," Rhode muttered.

Tucker sighed and shook his head, "I hate my stupid mouth."

"I hate it more," Grif agreed.

"How are we gonna sneak past that?" Simmons cried.

Tucker thought for a moment, "We're not."

"Glad to hear you're finally making sense, Tucker," Grif beamed, "Let's go home. Good effort, everybody! We came, we saw, we realized it was impossible. No shame in that."

 **XXX**

Tucker led the others back down the tunnel until they came to some large pipes built into the icy wall.

"Can't help but realize we haven't left yet," Grif noted.

"We can't sneak past those guys," Tucker explained, "So instead, we're gonna make as much noise as possible. If we can cause enough trouble somewhere else, we can draw them away from the prison. What do you guys think?"

"Well, it fits with the dumb ideas thing," Rhode admitted.

Tucker turned to the wall with a smile. "I'm thinking if we jack up these important looking pipes and make a run for it, we can make it to the building."

"Ugh, we have to run?" Grif groaned.

"We have to try. Worst case scenario, we end up in jail with everyone else and just wait for this whole civil war thing to blow over."

"I think worst case scenario is getting shot," Simmons corrected, "Or Grif getting shot and we have to carry him. There's only four of us."

"Forget it," Tucker decided, "Caboose, do your thing."

"Time to CLEAN THE PIPES!" Caboose shouted, raising his rifle and opening fire.

 **XXX**

All around the base, alarms began to blare, making all the Feds look up, "Alert! Catastrophic breach detected in sewage pipeline, sector 3!"

One Fed shook his head, "Sucks to be maintenance."

"Warning! Sewage breach detected in the barracks!"

The Fed gasped in horror, "Oh nooo! My stuff!"

At once, every single Fed soldier abandoned their posts and ran towards the barracks, desperate to protect their belongings.

"Now's our chance," Tucker cried, racing out of the tunnel, "Run!"

"Let's go!" Rhode exclaimed, making a run for it.

"Here goes nothing!" Simmons cried, running after him.

"Let's race!" Caboose yelled, dashing ahead.

Grif just groaned as he hurried after them.

As they ran, they passed other soldiers too caught up with preventing the impending disaster to even notice them.

"Come on guys," yelled the Warthog driver, "Gotta save our crap, from the crap!"

"Oh man," the tank driver moaned, "Last night was taco night!"

At last, the Reds and Blues arrived at the detention facility, stopping outside a heavily-armored door.

"Yeah, first place!" Caboose cried, hitting the door.

Simmons, Rhode, and Tucker arrived next and Grif came in last, puffing and panting heavily, "Oh my God... I'm gonna die. I hope I die."

"Simmons, do something about this door!" Tucker ordered.

"What do you mean?" Simmons asked.

"It's locked. Hack the door controls or something!"

"What makes you think I can just hack a door?"

"You're the smart one! All you're good for is hacking things and making me look more handsome in comparison!"

"I don't have any intel!" Simmons cried, panicking, "I don't have any tools! I-I-I can't just do it, I need time!"

"We don't have time, genius," Grif yelled, "Just pretend like it's a timed maths test or something!"

"I don't work well under pressure," Simmons squeaked, "You know that!"

Suddenly, there was a commotion on the other side of the door and then it began to slowly slide open.

"Uh oh, watch out!" Rhode cried out, "Someone's coming out!"

Quickly the Reds and Blues raised their weapons, ready to challenge who came out. But when the door was fully open and they saw who was on the other side, their jaws fell several miles.

"Oh man..." Tucker gasped.

There standing in the doorway, were not a group of Fed soldiers, but four Spartans just like them, their own weapons raised. One was dressed in red armor, one was in pink armor, one was in brown armor and one was wearing steel-gray armor with yellow highlights. Unbelievable as it seemed, Tucker, Caboose, Rhode, Grif, and Simmons found themselves face-to-face with the very people they had come all this way to rescue: Sarge, Donut, Lopez and Agent Washington!

After a long pause, Washington lowered his gun, "Tucker? Rhode?"

"Wash?" Tucker breathed, lowering his rifle.

"What the heck are you boys doing here?" Sarge cried.

Under normal circumstances, Simmons would be happy to hear Sarge's gruff Southern accent again, but now he was completely confused, "We came to save you!"

"But... we were supposed to save you?" Donut said.

Everybody stood still in the doorway, swapping very perplexed looks.

"Bum bum buuuummm!" Caboose stated dramatically, "Cliffhanger!"

 **XXX**

 **Dang it Caboose! That's my thing! Oh well. Till next time guys!**


	10. Chapter 9: The Federal Army of Chorus

**Chapter 9: The Federal Army of Chorus**

 **F.A.C. OUTPOST 37**

 **WEEKS EARLIER**

The weather outside the facility was certainly colder than a witch's bosom, but inside the building, discussions were getting heated. News was spreading rapidly that Locus had managed to get a hold of the Blood Gulch Reds and Blues. Some soldiers said that the group had been badly wounded in the attempt, others said that half of the Reds and Blues had been taken by their enemies, but everybody was assured that soon they would recover those Spartans and together they would bring down the New Republic.

In the building of the outpost, one Fed soldier was getting tense, and with good reason. Soon the newly healed Reds and Blues would meet up with their leader and given a great opportunity.

At that moment, the door slid open and another soldier marched into the room. Nodding to his friend, he turned round, "Bring in our guests."

As he spoke, three figures entered the room, each wearing black undersuits trimmed with the colors of their respective armor and bound in heavy handcuffs. The first soldier to come in had the look of someone who'd been through hell and back several times, despite being in his early forties; his grizzled brown hair was disheveled and uncombed, his grayish green eyes had shadowed circles under them and a long scar ran across his forehead from the top of his right eye to the edge of his scalp. The Feds knew this figure as the former Freelancer, Agent Washington, now appointed leader of the Blues.

The second figure that came after him was much older than Washington, in his early fifties, but he had the air of someone used to giving orders; his gray hair was neatly trimmed in a typical military style, his stern chin was speckled with stubble and his squinted eyes showed defiance, even when he was handcuffed. There could certainly be no doubts that this man was the tightfisted leader of the Reds, known simply as Sarge.

By contrast, the figure that came in last was much younger than the others, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a somewhat suspect air that heightened the confusion of the Fed, already growing when he noticed the pink trim of his undersuit. However, that was hardly unexpected of the Reds' youngest recruit, Private Franklin Donut.

The Fed that led them into the office turned to their guests, "Just wait here. The General will be along soon to meet you personally."

With that, he turned and left the room.

As soon as he had left, Sarge quickly broke the silence, "Dirtbags! Each and every one of 'em! The soldiers: dirtbags! The medics: dirtbags! That good-for-nothin' mercenary, who shoots a man when he ain't even lookin': you best believe he's a numero uno dirtbag! And you!"

He turned to the lone Fed in the room, "You know what you are?"

"Ooh, ooh, me!" Donut cried, raising his cuffed hands, "Pick me, Sarge!"

"Shut up, Donut!"

"But I was gonna say 'dirtbag'."

"What? D'oh, Donut, for the love of... Now you've gone and given away the answer to my rhetorical question!"

"I have an idea," Wash cut in, irritated by the Reds' discussion, "Let's play the quiet game."

"Ooh ho ho ho," Donut chuckled, "It. Is. On!"

"Great Monopoly's top hat, Wash. Now is not the time for games! Now is the time for action!" Sarge started shaking his arms around, trying to get free, "Come on, help me get out of these cuffs. There's a certain someone in this room that I feel like bludgeoning to death!"

"Just use your feet, Sarge," Donut suggested, "If he fights back, I'll beat him off ya!"

"You're not thinking, Donut! That'll just alert more guards."

"Well, if I can't beat off a room full of dudes, then what have I been training for this whole time?"

Wash gave out an exasperated sigh, "I would really like to play the quiet game, please."

Just then, the door opened again and the lone Fed jumped to attention, "Officer on deck!"

Wash, Sarge and Donut turned round as two more Feds entered the room, each taking opposite sides of the door. Moments later, another soldier sauntered in behind them. He was dressed in white armor like the Feds, but his had gold trim and his shoulders bore the stripes of a general. Though his face couldn't be seen, Wash could somehow tell that this soldier had the confident air of a leader, and yet didn't seem like a soldier at all.

"Ah, so these are our special guests," the head soldier declared in a gentle British accent, as he marched towards the trio, "Agent Washington, Franklin Donut, and Sarge."

He paused at the end and turned to face them, "I... am so sorry!"

Sarge was about to make a rude retort, but his words froze on his lips, "Say what now?"

"Guard," the head soldier called, "Uncuff these men at once and return their weaponry and armor, for God's sake!"

"Yes sir," The Fed took out a set of keys and began to unlock Sarge's cuffs, "Really sorry about this, sir. I'd appreciate it if you decided not to bludgeon me to death."

"Ah, I suppose I could settle for near death," Sarge decided.

The Fed then released Donut who stretched out his arms, "Goodbye, handcuffs! Aw, wait, I didn't even get to use my safe word."

As the Fed undid Wash's cuffs, Donut quickly whispered, "It's 'chrysanthemum.'"

Then three more Feds entered the room, one carrying three guns and the other two holding pieces of armor.

"Excellent," the leader announced, "I regret to inform you that most of your armor was damaged during your... incapacitation. But we took the liberty of acquiring replacement pieces from the shipwreck. Your weapons have been polished and reloaded-"

"Okay, wait, stop," Wash cut in, pushing the Fed who'd freed him aside, "Stop!"

"Um, what is it, Agent Washington?" the leader asked puzzled.

"What is it? What is it?!" Wash snatched up his battle rifle and turned to face the leader, his eyes narrowed, "First, you send men to kill us. Then you send men to capture us. And now that we're here, you're giving us guns and armor and saying you're SORRY?!"

"Uh..." The leader looked quite nervous, "Is that a problem?"

"Only for you," Wash growled, aiming his gun at the leader's head, "if you don't-"

"O-oh dear!" Suddenly, the leader lifted his hand up to his head and then fell to the floor in a dead faint.

"Ah, crap," the Fed muttered, "Someone get the medic."

"What a weenie," Donut scoffed.

 **XXX**

A few hours later, Wash, Sarge and Donut waited outside the medical ward as the Feds' leader was treated. While they waited, they had each dressed in their armor and taken a look at themselves. Donut's pink armor was pretty much the same except for a new shoulder plate, Sarge now had a new torso plate that looked incongruous next to his original battle-scarred red armor, and only Wash's armor seemed to have escaped serious damage.

Now Wash paced around the waiting room, shaking his head in confusion, "I don't understand. None of this makes any sense."

Just then, the ward's doors slid open and the leader came out, accompanied by another Fed whose armor had purple trim.

"Now just take it easy for the rest of the day," the Fed informed her patient, "Remember, you're no good to me dead. Although I suppose I could run some experiments on your body."

"Uh, thank you, Emily," the leader replied, chuckling nervously, "Your help is always appreciated."

"Anytime, General Doyle! Now if you'll excuse me, I have limbs to amputate!" And with that, Emily turned and went back into the ward.

"Of course," Doyle muttered as soon as she was out of earshot.

Then he turned to the others, "Gentlemen, I'm afraid I have nothing but apologies for you today. It must be the thin air up here, I-I've been doing a lot of traveling lately and my body's still adjusting to-"

"I'm not in the mood for apologies right now," Wash cut in, "So, uh, Doyle, right?"

"Oh, uh... well, yes. Very observant," Doyle gave the group a courteous bow, "General Donald Doyle of the Federal Army of Chorus, at your service."

"At our service?" Sarge asked.

"Full service?" Donut added.

"Okay, General," Wash continued, "Let me catch you up to speed on what the past few days have been like for me. I've got a canyon of shipwrecked survivors all trying to hail a rescue, when a squad of soldiers, all wearing your uniform, come down and attack us with your leader, a big black-suited guy who goes by the name of Locus. Then once he leaves, I've got another guy named Felix telling me you and your soldiers have been terrorizing this planet and to top it all off, that we're wanted men for crashing on it in the first place!"

His voice then took on a fierce tone, "So please, if you could do your best to convince me not to kill you this very second, that would REALLY BENEFIT THE BOTH OF US!"

"Uh, yeah!" Sarge added, nervous at Wash's harsh tones.

"Yes, I see," Doyle sighed, "None of this happened the way that I wanted. Please follow me and I'll explain."

They left the ward and walked down the passage.

As they went, Doyle turned to the Crew, "Tell me, how much do you know about the New Republic?"

"They don't try to kill us for starters," Sarge replied.

"A note of equality, yes," Doyle agreed, "But uh, what else do you know about them?"

"They're rebels, fighting to overthrow a corrupt leadership," Wash responded more clearly, "They heard our distress call and hoped we could help."

"And you heard all this from a mercenary, hired to assist them at all costs?" Doyle raised a curt eyebrow, "A bit of a biased source, don't you think?"

As they left the passage and came out onto a balcony that overlooked a snowy courtyard, Wash looked confused, "Biased?"

"Indeed," Doyle replied more fiercely, "These 'rebels' aren't looking to free this planet, their aim is to dominate it! They were given ample opportunities to move to a former old society, somewhere else on Chorus. It is a large planet, I can assure you. But noooo, they are determined to uh, 'take back what is theirs!' I'll admit, times were hard, but as a planet cut off from the rest of the galaxy, we did our best to govern the people. But it wasn't enough. Suddenly buildings were exploding! There were- there were riots in the streets; complete and utter panic everywhere! These were not acts of freedom, they were acts of terrorism!"

He slammed his fist on the railing, "And we could not risk warriors of your caliber allying with them."

"So you sent your men to kill us?!" Wash cried.

"Absolutely not!"

"I've got a few cracked ribs that beg to differ!" Sarge grunted, rubbing his chest, "And a headbone that strongly disagrees!"

"Again, I must apologize," Doyle replied regretfully, "The way this was handled was not at all what I had wanted. Upon hearing your arrival on Chorus, I ordered Locus to confirm his findings and bring you to us as soon as possible. Unfortunately, it appears as though I should've been more specific in the exact method of you acquisition."

"So what, this is all your mercenary's fault?" Wash scoffed, "Y-You expect me to believe that the general of an army can't control his own men?"

"Y-You're mistaken in assuming I have any control over Locus whatsoever! He is a dog, that has long since broken from his leash... But I need your help," Doyle turned and leaned over the railings, looking down at the Feds' activities below, "As I'm sure you already observed, I'm not a battleward soldier ripe with military expertise. On the contrary, I was simply next in line to run the army should something happen to its leader."

"What do you mean?" Wash asked, "Lieutenant General? Major General?"

"Uh..." Doyle looked rather embarrassed, "Personal secretary to the Brigadier."

"What?!"

"Where'd all the other guys go?" Donut asked.

"Some of them left before things took a turn for the worst," Doyle admitted, "But uh, hmmm... most of them were killed. Yes, definitely they were killed. Not many of us left these days, I'm afraid."

"But you're supposed to be the Evil Empire, with giant warships and floating space lasers!" Sarge cried, "Not camping out in the snow! That stuff's for rebels, and the sadly endangered polar bear."

"Well, we are doing significantly better than before!" Doyle huffed indignantly, turning to face them, "We still have multiple bases of operation, and Locus has managed to acquire top-notch military equipment! He even helped us strategize some of our more recent victories. Though I would not consider your rescue to be one of them."

"I also wouldn't consider it to be a rescue," Wash added.

"Well, I can assure you that he was punished severely for taking such drastic measures against you! I made sure he wasn't paid a single penny for the job!"

"How comforting."

Doyle sighed and shook his head, "Gentlemen, I am fully aware that I may never gain your trust. But let me be perfectly clear: we are not your enemy. The New Republic has your men and I can promise you, they are likely recruiting them into their rebellion as we speak. Now I can inform my troops not to attack them, but I cannot stop them from defending themselves. I'm... also unable to promise you a safe escape from Chorus in the middle of this conflict. Most of our ships are shot down before they can escape our atmosphere."

"So what can you promise us?" Wash demanded.

"Well, if you can help us defeat these terrorists, it would not only save our planet, it would also save your comrades. Then, once the skies are clear, you can leave this forsaken planet once and for all!"

"Hmmm, I don't like it," Sarge muttered, "But I'm not really seeing another way out."

He then gave a conniving look at Doyle, "Unless beating you unconscious would somehow work."

"Highly doubtful," Doyle laughed nervously.

"Drat," Sarge groaned, "I guess I'm in."

Wash turned to Donut, who simply nodded, "No man left behind, right?"

"Right," Wash then turned to Doyle, "I still have one question for you, General."

"Uh, which is?" Doyle asked.

Wash's eyes narrowed. "Where. Are. Our robots?"

 **XXX**

Half an hour later, Wash, Sarge and Donut came into a room inside the compound where they found several technicians working on the motionless body of Lopez.

One technician looked up as they entered, "Ah, you're just in time! We've finished the repairs on your robot, and are just about to boot him up."

He turned to his team, "All right, switch him on!"

The others stood aside, save for one who lifted his hand and slapped Lopez hard on the back.

"Hegahergerk!" Lopez cried out as his systems powered up.

"All right!" the head technician cried, "Fixed up and ready to go!"

Lopez lifted his head, his eyes glowing dark blue like the infamous "Blue Screen of Death" seen when a computer crashed.

Then he blinked and shook his head, his eyes fading to green, and then he spoke, "Hola. Me llamo Lopez. Gracias por la-"

At that moment, he spotted Sarge and his shoulders sagged, "Oh, Dios."

"Bienvenidos, robo-buddy!" Sarge beamed, "You're back in the world of the living! Viva la...viva."

"(I wasn't dead,)" Lopez retorted, "(My limbs just stopped working and they put me in the trash can. It was the most enjoyable experience I have had in years. Then you showed up.)"

"No need to thank us, son," Sarge chuckled, patting his robot's shoulder.

"(I made friends with a space rat,)" Lopez added.

"We have got a lot of catching up to do!" Donut squealed in delight.

"(Fill me in later,)" Lopez muttered, "(I'm sure it's stupid and confusing.)"

Wash turned to the head technician, "Now, what about Freckles?"

The technician looked confused, "Uh, what's a 'Freckles'?"

"Agent Washington is referring to a Mantis-Class military assault droid," came a deep voice behind them, "And you won't find it among this wreckage."

Shivering at that voice, Wash and the Reds turned to see a familiar figure in steel-and-green armor standing at the doorway, who they immediately recognized as the mercenary who brought them here.

"I'll, uh, just look somewhere else then," the technician decided nervously, "Come on, men. Tea break!"

And with that, all the technicians made their excuses and left the room.

"Mierda," Lopez gulped. (Oh crap.)

Quickly, Wash stood protectively in front of the Reds and raised his rifle, "Locus."

"The droid was malfunctioning," Locus continued, ignoring the gun pointed at him, "It refused to surrender, and was therefore destroyed."

Donut gasped in horror, "He's dead?!"

"It was a machine," Locus retorted, "It had no life to begin with."

"(Douche,)" Lopez growled.

Wash felt a pang in his heart at the news, 'I'm so sorry, Caboose.'

"You know," Sarge grunted, pulling out his trusty shotgun, "It takes a lot of nerve to come strolling in here after what you did!"

"Does my presence upset you, Sergeant?" Locus inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"It gives me an itchy trigger finger, I can tell you that."

Wash's eyes narrowed in anger, "What do you want?"

"Aside from my initial examination, the men under my command were ordered to take you alive," Locus explained, approaching the group, "All attacks were intended to wound, all shots were designed to intimidate. Let me assure you, my raid on your base was calculated, choreographed, and designed to apprehend you, like herding sheep to the pen. Were it not for the intervention of the mercenary and his forces, I would've succeeded entirely."

"And what, is that supposed to make us feel better?" Sarge snapped, "'Cause quite honestly it's having the opposite effect."

"It's supposed to make you understand," Locus replied.

"(I understand you're a douche,)" Lopez retorted.

"Agent Washington, I am a professional," Locus continued, "I follow orders, and I complete my missions at all costs."

"I don't care what you think you are," Wash snarled, "You just stay away from me and my men."

"You still don't understand." Locus tilted his head to one side, "Or perhaps... you do."

Wash frowned, "What?"

Just then, the door behind them opened and the Fed from earlier, Emily, came into the room.

"Excuse me!" she called to Locus, "If someone tells you to leave them alone, you leave them alone."

"Of course, Doctor," Locus then pulled out a small storage unit from his pocket and handed it to Wash, "Here."

"What is this?" Wash asked.

"Before your droid was dismantled, I had a technician remove its primary storage unit," Locus replied, "Its 'heart and mind', so to speak."

Wash scowled as he snatched the unit away, "Is this supposed to be sort of apology?"

"Is it?" Locus replied with a shrug.

"This guy doesn't make any sense," Donut hissed to Lopez behind his hand.

"(That's because he's insane,)" Lopez replied.

"I am not!" Locus cried out, surprising everyone.

"(HOLY CRAP, HE'S BILINGUAL!)" Lopez screamed, ducking behind Donut, "(PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!)"

Locus shook his head as he turned back to Wash, "You give meaning to meaningless objects and meaningless people, and risk your lives to protect them. Where's the sense in that? I look forward to your answer, soldier."

With that, he turned and left the room.

"Sorry about that," Emily chuckled, "I promise the rest of us aren't like him. I'm Doctor Emily Grey."

"Oooh, a doctor!" Donut gasped, "That's like a medic who saves people!"

"You a civilian, little lady?" Sarge chuckled.

"Civilian?" Dr. Grey burst into hysterical laughter, "I don't think you realize how bad this planet's gotten! The only people not wearing armor these days are dead!"

"I know you," Wash breathed, putting his gun away, "I heard your voice somewhere. I... can't quite recall where."

"Is that so?" Dr. Grey gave a kind smile, "Well, I performed surgery on you after they brought you in here. Sorry if you find a few new scars. A shot from a concussion rifle isn't bad, but a severe injury to the back of the skull can be a little tricky, especially when your head is filled with pretty little wires and chips. I hope I didn't damage those neural implants."

"I-I'm sure they're fine," Wash stammered, a little disturbed by the way she'd spoken, "Thank you."

"You can thank me by ending this war as soon as possible!" Dr. Grey replied, "Bullet wounds and prosthetic limbs have become so booooring! So, come by my office tomorrow morning for a check up. Once you're cleared, you three will be shipping off."

"Shipping off?" Sarge cried.

"Where are we going?" Donut asked.

"I don't give people orders, boys, I just fix them when they break! Don't worry," Dr. Grey reassured them, noticing their troubled looks, "I'm sure you'll be back. Tomorrow morning, my office, 0800."

Then she turned and went out the door.

"Mmm," Sarge murmured, "Well, what do you fellas think?"

"I think she's... nice?" Donut muttered.

"Not the doc, Donut, the army!" Sarge cried, "The general! The whole dealio! Grif and Simmons are out there with the Blues! Alone, confused! Probably eating and complaining and back-talking! Dern it, Grif, just shut up already!"

"We do what we have to, and go along with it for now," Wash sighed as he looked out the window, his own mind fretting about what Caboose, Rhode, and Tucker were up to right now, "I just hope the others aren't in too deep without us."

 **XXX**

 **If only you knew Wash... Oh wait. Now you do. Till next time guys!**


	11. Chapter 10: Cloak and Dagger

**Chapter 10: Cloak and Dagger**

 **PRESENT DAY**

"Okay, hold up," Tucker cried as Washington finished his story, "You're telling me that the Feds are just as helpless as the New Republic? I thought they were evil!"

"Well, we thought you were being brainwashed by terrorists!" Donut countered.

"Terrorists?" Grif asked baffled, "Our soldiers are a bunch of harmless morons!"

"Your soldiers?" Sarge asked, raising an eyebrow.

"They were all promoted to Captains," Rhode explained, "They gave them squads and everything."

"Blue Team for life," Caboose added quietly.

Sarge swapped a puzzled look with Wash, "Clearly our enemy isn't as cunning as we once thought."

"We don't have an enemy," Wash corrected, "As far as I can tell, both of these forces have reasons to fight, and neither are particularly guilt-free. We've just been caught in the middle."

"But the rebels aren't bad!" Tucker cut in emphatically, "Some of them are our friends."

"And we managed to make a few allies within the Federal Army," Wash sighed and shook his head, "None of this makes either side any better. The New Republic started this war with extremist attacks on the capitol."

"But only because the government was screwing them!" Tucker snapped.

"You gotta admit, it sounds kinda like a jerkish move," Grif agreed.

"We need to get these two sides to talk to one another," Wash decided, "Doyle is in the capitol at the moment, but maybe he can get this Kimball woman to agree to a meeting. If they can come to some sort of understanding, we might be able to end this thing and go home."

"This isn't right," Simmons muttered uneasily.

"Believe me, there's plenty wrong with this situation. But I think this is our best move," Wash gave Tucker a relieved smile, "I'm just glad you guys made it."

"No, seriously," Simmons insisted, "I mean this doesn't feel right. I just can't figure out what it is!"

"Yeah..." Rhode agreed, "Something seems... Off."

"Is it a false sense of superiority?" Sarge suggested, "That's probably a side effect of the false promotion."

"Minutes after reuniting and you're already starting crap," Grif sighed.

"What did you expect, breakfast in bed?"

"I hate you."

"I hate you more."

"Wait," Simmons interrupted, holding up a hand for silence, "Do you hear that?"

Tucker listened too. "Uhh... No."

"You okay, Simmons?" Donut asked in concern.

"What happened to the alarms?" Rhode asked.

Everybody swapped looks of realization. In all the confusion of finding each other, they hadn't noticed the alarms had stopped. Quickly they all ran out onto the field, expecting the Fed guards to have returned from the barracks.

But there was nobody there. Once again, the field was devoid of any life, save for several guns lying on the ground and two abandoned Warthogs each armed with rocket-launchers.

"Uhh... is it lunch time again?" Caboose asked confused.

"Hello?" Wash called out, running into the open, "Dr. Grey? Anybody?!"

Tucker ran after him, keeping his gun trained, "Dude. What's going on?"

"I don't know," Wash murmured.

As they approached the Warthog, they suddenly heard voices over the radio.

"Enemy contact! Fall back!"

"Where did he go? AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!"

Rhode immediately jumped into action, "Sarge!"

"Way ahead of you!" Sarge yelled, as he, Donut and Lopez leapt into the other Rocket-hog and drove away.

"What is happening?" Simmons yelled in panic, as he, Grif, and Caboose rejoined the others.

"We're under attack!" Wash cried, leading the charge after Sarge.

Ahead of them, the Rocket-hog slowed to a halt and Sarge leapt out of the driver's seat, raising his shotgun, "Lopez, stand by the rocket-launchers!"

"Si," Lopez replied from behind the turret.

"Donut, establish a perimeter!"

"Got it," Donut climbed onto the jeep's bonnet and yelled out, "Hey! Just so you guys know, you better not come over here!"

"Usted avergonzar a ti mismo," Lopez groaned, visor-palming. (You embarrass yourself.)

Just then, a Fed came running up to them, "Thank God, sir. You've got to help us. They came out of nowhere."

"Who, the rebels?" Sarge asked.

"No!"

"Oh good, because we kinda just found out that they're really not that bad. Boy, have we got a story to tell you, and you are gonna laugh!"

"It's not the rebels, sir. It's-" But before the Fed could finish, he was hit by a red bolt of energy and thrown off his feet.

As he hit the ground, his body began to glow like a burning log and dissolved into ashes.

The team stared in horror at the Fed's death.

"Umm..." Tucker gulped, "Did everyone else see that?"

"You mean a man disintegrate right in front of us?" Grif muttered.

"Yep!"

"Really wish I hadn't," Simmons groaned.

'Why does that look so familiar?' Rhode thought to himself.

Just then a scream cut through the air like a knife, and the Reds and Blues turned and saw a terrible scene of carnage. All around them, Feds were shooting at something, but each one was hit by the red bolts and burned into nothing. One Fed tried to fight with the tank, but a sticky detonator destroyed the tank, and another bolt destroyed the Fed.

Amidst the chaos, nobody noticed Dr. Emily Grey hiding behind a wall, listening to the death cries of her allies, "Oh dear..."

"We've gotta do something!" Simmons cried.

"We could run!" Grif yelled, "Running is something!"

Suddenly a large object hit the side of the Rocket-hog and started glowing.

"Sticky detonator!" Tucker gasped.

"Get away from the car!" Wash shouted.

Everyone ran a good distance away and ducked down into the snow. Lopez leapt off the turret, shouting in Spanish, and dived into the snow with Donut. Seconds later, KABOOOOOOMM! The Rocket-hog was destroyed in a huge explosion.

Rhode looked around frantically as the gang got to their feet, "What are we dealing with?"

"We don't know!" Donut squealed.

"Well, it ain't the rebels, that's for sure," Sarge replied grimly.

"Then who the heck is it?" Tucker yelled.

Suddenly a glowing red targeting laser beam hit Tucker's armor and they heard the sound of a gun powering up. Then more laser beams flashed onto the others' armor and the Crew lowered their weapons.

Just then, they heard a deep sinister laugh that brought shivers down their spines.

Then on a walkway overhead, a shady figure wearing steel-gray armor with green trim appeared out of thin air, armed with a binary rifle, "Like sheep to the pen."

"Oh no," Wash breathed in horror.

"You're ready for slaughter," Locus finished.

"Locus!" Tucker yelled angrily, raising his rifle.

"I advise you stand down, boy," Locus warned.

Even as he spoke, several black-armored soldiers appeared on ledges above, each armed with a powerful binary rifle, surrounding the Blood Gulch Crew. With an angry growl like that of a cornered animal, Tucker lowered his weapon.

"The soldiers from the fueling station?" Simmons asked, recognizing the three soldiers that stood next to Locus.

"I thought they were Feds," Grif added.

"Those ain't our guys," Sarge replied.

"I told you, Agent Washington," Locus gloated, "I am a professional. I complete my missions at all cost. But you, and your comrades, have put a blemish on my record. This... is unacceptable."

Carefully, Tucker reached behind his back and took hold of a grenade.

"What are you talking about?" Wash yelled furiously, "You just killed the men you're working for!"

Locus gave an irritated grunt, "It appears you don't understand at all. Unfortunate. You were such a fascinating soldier, Agent Washington."

As Locus raised his sniper rifle, Tucker prepared himself to throw the grenade.

But suddenly, just as Locus squeezed the trigger, Felix darted out into the field, ran in front of Wash and raised his hardlight shield, taking the bullet.

"Huh?" Tucker cried.

"Felix!" Rhode grinned.

"Tucker, grenade!" Felix yelled, holding out his hand.

"Oh! Right!" Quickly, Tucker whipped out the grenade from behind his back and tossed it to Felix, who deftly caught it with one hand.

Felix got into position to throw, but stopped.

He stared at the grenade in his hand began to chuckle, in a way that made everybody feel nervous, "Ah, that was close! Nice throw, Tucker!"

Tucker took an uneasy step back, "Felix?"

"How many times have I jumped in front of a bullet for you, Wash? Three?" Felix laughed, "Those are some pretty great reflexes, huh? Most people would have to plan that sort of thing."

Wash's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "Felix, what are you doing?"

"Just helping out an old acquaintance," With that, Felix turned and tossed the grenade up to Locus, "You missed a spot."

"Are you done?" Locus asked, passing the grenade to the soldier on his left.

"Not even close," Felix replied with a menacing grin.

"Dude!" Rhode gasped in horror.

"This doesn't make sense!" Tucker yelled in shock, "That's Locus, your enemy!"

"Riiight," Felix drawled with a mocking tone, "And I'm the charismatic mercenary with a gruff exterior but a heart of gold. A little too romantic, don't you think?"

"But the guy freaking shot you!" Tucker snapped.

"Yeah," Felix chuckled, flexing his leg that had been hit by Locus, "Funny how an act of sacrifice like that buys you so much trust. And so much information."

Wash and Rhode suddenly recalled all the questions Felix had asked him back in the canyon while they'd been preparing for the Feds' attack.

 **XXX**

 _"Weren't you with another Freelancer? And an AI?"_

 _"I need a detailed list of the supplies you've got on hand."_

 _"You wouldn't happen to have any high tech armor on board that wreck, would you?"_

 **XXX**

"But you're supposed to hate each other!" Simmons cried.

"Oh, we do," Felix confirmed, "After all, you should never mix friends with business."

"Wrap it up," Locus growled impatiently.

"But we just work so well together," Felix stated, "Remember that little hit-and-run we did, Tucker? I'm just glad Locus took my advice and got down when I told him to."

"You dirty liar!" Sarge bellowed.

"Hey, whoa whoa whoa," Felix cried out indignantly, "I never actually lied to you idiots, okay? Well, except for once: 'You're some of the galaxy's greatest soldiers!' Pfft! Now that couldn't be farther from the truth. But you know, it did make you the perfect candidates to lead the people of Chorus."

"Stop boasting and let me kill them," Locus growled, "We have a job to do."

"Ooh, that's right," Felix gloated. "He doesn't like you guys. He actually thinks there might be a few fighters among you. Ha! Told you he's crazy."

"But why?" Rhode demanded, "Why the capture? Why make us part of this war?"

"Well, you see-"

"Felix!" Locus warned.

"No! I've had to put up with these morons every day, so you let me have this," Felix turned to Rhode and folded his arms, "You see, someone, somewhere out in our galaxy, has their eye set on this planet. The only problem is the inhabitants. Now, if it were up to me, I'd just nuke this place from orbit. But our employer has other ideas."

 **XXX**

 _As Felix observed the scene below, he spotted the Blue Team and gasped in amazement, "Holy crap, it's actually them."_

 _"Back off," Locus warned him on the opposite cliff, "Control wants them alive."_

 _As Locus switched on his cloaking device, Felix's face grew worried, "Oh no..."_

 **XXX**

"We have to play this thing carefully, you understand?" Felix explained, "If an entire planet dies overnight, well, people ask questions. But if you stumble onto this rock and find that the settlers killed each other, well, that's just a tragedy."

Tucker suddenly recalled Kimball's words, _"Our first leader was killed in action. The second was assassinated in what we had been told would be a peace treaty, and the third was blown out of the sky while trying to leave Chorus for help."_

"It was you," Tucker snarled accusingly, "You started this war!"

"EERH! Wrong!" Felix cried out, "These people hated each other way before our operation showed up; we just had to keep the hate train a-goin'. And let me tell you, you guys have helped so much."

The Blood Gulch Crew all swapped horrified glances as they recalled the battle back at Crash Site Bravo, thinking of all the Feds that they had killed and the equal number of New Republic soldiers that had died trying to save them. Tucker felt a greater guilt as he remembered the deaths of Rogers and Cunningham, and Felix's words in the aftermath.

 **XXX**

 _"Dude, two of our guys are dead!"_

 _"And two more will probably die tomorrow."_

XXX

"Does it hurt?" Felix sneered coldly, "Knowing just how much death you've brought to this planet?"

"Enough!" Locus cut in angrily, "How many times must I tell you, if you want to make the victim suffer, you do it quickly, and efficiently."

With that, he raised his sniper rifle and pointed it at Wash's head, "There will be no rescue for you. You will die here, today, along with the rest. No one will find your bodies, no one will know the truth, and no one is going to stop us from killing every last person on the planet!"

As the other mercenaries raised their weapons, the Reds and Blues felt more helpless than they had ever been. It really looked like there was no way out for any of them...

Then suddenly, the mercenary on Locus's left lowered her gun, "Alright, that's all I need to hear."

With that, she dropped the grenade on the ground and leapt right off the building, landing right in front of Felix.

"KILL THEM!" Locus yelled.

"Who the crap are you?" Felix cried.

In response, the mercenary pulled out a suppressor rifle and fired at Felix, but he quickly raised his hardlight shield and deflected the shots back, knocking the weapon out of her hands and at Grif's feet.

"What is going on?!" Grif shouted.

"Just grab it and shoot!" Rhode yelled, firing his sniper rifle and nailing a soldier in the head.

The rest of the Crew raised their guns and started shooting the other mercenaries. Grif quickly snatched up the suppressor and joined in the fight, gunning down the mercs.

Behind them, Dr. Grey ran out of hiding and spotted her friends in the middle of the fight, "Wash?"

Meanwhile, Felix began to engage the traitor merc in hand-to-hand combat, but each punch and kick that he threw was blocked and countered with lightning-fast reaction. One such counter-punch sent him sprawling to the ground.

"You think you're fast?" Felix grunted, getting to his feet before being knocked back down almost immediately, "Oh, what the crap?"

"Faster than you," the merc gloated.

"Let's change that," So saying, Felix whipped out a combat knife and stabbed the merc in the leg, making her cry out in pain.

Then he swung out his leg and kicked her over to the Blood Gulch Crew, "Locus!"

With a grim nod, Locus appeared out of invisibility, holding a large laser weapon, and pointed it at the Reds and Blues. In response, the female merc pulled out a glowing orange spiked cube.

"Is that a future cube?" Grif cried out, recognizing the device.

"Stay close!" the merc yelled.

Just then, Dr. Grey broke out of cover and ran towards the group, "Wait, stop!"

But just as she caught up to them, the merc threw the cube onto the ground, causing a flash of light so bright that Locus, Felix and the other mercenaries had to cover their visors. At last, the light faded and they opened their eyes... only to find that the Blood Gulch Crew, the merc, and Dr. Grey had disappeared.

Locus gave an angry sigh, "Call Control."

 **XXX**

Several miles away from the facility, in the depths of a foggy forest, there was a bright flash of light and eleven figures appeared out of nowhere. One figure landed nimbly on her feet but the other ten just collapsed in a tangled heap.

"Uh, what just happened?" Grif groaned, staggering to his feet, "And why did it hurt?"

Dr. Grey pulled herself out from under Caboose's legs, "Uh... Where am I?"

"I think my insides were just outside," Caboose moaned, clutching his stomach.

"Ugh," Wash grunted, pushing Lopez off him, "Is everyone okay?"

Just then, a light laugh made everyone look up to see the merc standing over them, "You know, I never thought I'd be so glad to see you idiots again."

Rhode's eyes widened in shock, "That voice... It can't be."

At that moment, the merc's armor shifted its color, changing from black to a lightish-blue. As everyone stared in amazement, the soldier then pulled off her helmet, revealing her fiery red hair and piercing green eyes.

"Carolina!" Rhode gasped in joy.

"And that's not all!" came another familiar voice.

Everyone looked round in confusion.

Then suddenly, a glowing sapphire-blue Spartan about a foot tall appeared next to Carolina, holding out his arms, "Miss me, morons?"

Everyone was silent for a few seconds, staring in amazement. Then the silence was broken.

"You jerk!" Tucker yelled, throwing down his rifle and pouncing on Epsilon, only to fall right through his body and crash to the ground.

Epsilon frowned and turned to Carolina, "Huh. Wasn't expecting that."

 **XXX**

 **And thus ends probably my favorite episode of the season! Carolina and Church are back and the huge plot twist that Felix is a bad guy. Till next time guys!**


	12. Chapter 11: Long Time No See

**Chapter 11: Long Time No See**

 **WEEKS EARLIER**

 **ABANDONED (?) F.A.C. MUNITIONS PLANT**

The security room was silent save for the occasional buzz of the monitors and the squeak of the chair as the guard leaned back and folded his arms behind his head. Glancing at one monitor which showed the view outside, he saw the sun was just starting to rise over the rocky plains. Morning was coming and soon he would be able to get some sleep. It seemed almost a shame that nothing had happened during the night; he'd been bored stiff.

Suddenly, a soft beeping noise rang out, making him sit upright. That noise was caused by the room's motion detector alarm. Quickly he turned round in his seat, looking over the hologram projection table. But there was nobody there. Confused, he turned back and tapped the alarm, then he switched it off. There must be a fault in its circuits somewhere. He'd get one of the technicians to work on it later.

But then, the alarm went off again. This time, he jumped to his feet and looked all around the room. Again, there was nothing in sight. Shaking his head in frustration, he sat down and made to turn the alarm off again. At that moment, the radio next to him switched on, startling him.

"Come in, security," called a voice from the radio, "This is headquarters."

"Jesus," the guard sighed, picking up the radio, "Yeah, copy HQ. You scared the crap out of me, Harv."

"Sorry, Sam. Hey, meant to tell ya, got a maintenance ticket for your console. Day shift says it's throwing up warnings."

"Yeah, okay. Motion sensor says there's movement in the room, but there's nothing here."

"Ah, that's probably a, you know, bad indicator or somethin'. Or maybe it's that super-soldier right behind you who's about to knock you out."

"Yeah," Sam chuckled then he looked confused, "What?"

Slowly he started to turn round... but then he was punched in the back of his head and slumped to the floor, dropping his radio.

As darkness began to take over his senses, he heard a completely different voice speaking on the radio, "Probably that last one, just a guess. Sleep tight, Sam."

"Okay, thanks Harv," Sam slurred, "Nighty-night..."

Then he closed his eyes and knew nothing more...

With the guard knocked out, the dark figure knelt down and picked up the radio. As she did, her armor color faded from black to light-blue.

"You set off the motion sensor, Carolina?" the voice on the radio scoffed, "Amateur hour."

"You're supposed to disable the motion sensors, Epsilon," Carolina retorted.

"Well, I couldn't do that until I got in the room."

"And I couldn't get you into the room without setting off the motion sensor."

"Well, you could. You just didn't."

"Can we just get into the database?" Carolina snapped. "I need the files."

"You could've done it if Rhode was here," Church mumbled, "If only to impress him..."

"What did you-"

"Already in!" Epsilon interrupted, appearing on the console panel, "Give me a drive."

Carolina, deciding to wave off Church's comment, took out a storage unit from her belt and plugged it into the computer, "How long to decrypt it?"

"Oh please," Epsilon replied, "Already done!"

"Already?"

"It's a three tier lockdown with a 2056-bit encryption key; it ain't rocket science."

Carolina gave a little smile, "You're getting faster."

"Wow, that sounded like a compliment," Epsilon muttered, "I will take it."

Carolina was indeed impressed by Epsilon's speed, but she was also trying to get his mind away from other matters. It had been over two months since they'd last seen the Blood Gulch Crew, setting off on a mission to recover some gear that had gone missing from Project Freelancer. As the last remaining members, Carolina had made it their mission to recover the gear, and end her father's legacy once and for all. She missed Rhode of course, but more important things had to be done. Then again, she sometimes wished she invited him on this mission.

But sometimes, Epsilon would find himself thinking back to the memories of the Reds and Blues, which was only natural being a representation of the Alpha's memories. And each time, Carolina would remind him of their task.

On one of their missions, Epsilon had overheard that the Reds and Blues had been arrested and taken to court for their crimes against the UNSC. At his request, they broke into the courthouse and secretly presented extra evidence that would clear their names. But as they were about to leave, they were shocked when they discovered what else was on board the very same ship that was taking the Reds and Blues back to Blood Gulch. Getting on board with them, the ship crashed for unknown reasons and the two took off.

Carolina had set up a hidden base and in time picked up most of the history of Chorus by overhearing radio transmissions from the Federal Army and the New Republic, as well as some from a group of space pirates that were still fanning the flames of conflict. Thus, they were able to receive the news of the Blood Gulch Crew's involvement. Epsilon wanted to help them, but Carolina assured him that they would be fine, and they still needed to find the equipment, so now they had discovered this supposed abandoned facility, hoping to learn more about what they were dealing with. She truthfully did want to go back, but more important things had to be done.

"How long to transfer?" Carolina asked.

"About 45 seconds," Epsilon replied.

"And you can't make that go any quicker?"

"Well, that's the limitation of physical media; don't even get me started on that. Besides, that should give you enough time to deal with the three security personnel who are about to come through the door."

Carolina's eyes widened in shock, "Which door?"

"There's only one door," Epsilon pointed out, "They just set a breaching charge, by the way."

"What?!"

"Detonates in 3..."

Carolina whipped out her battle rifle, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"2... I just did."

"Epsilon..." Carolina growled, ducking behind the table.

"1... Oh, you'll be fine."

At that moment, the door was blown off its hinges and thrown across the room, as three black-armored guards came charging in, raising their rifles...

 **XXX**

"If 45 seconds was a long time for you, Carolina... well, imagine what it is to me."

Time seemed to almost stop for Church. He glanced around the room and floated towards the guards.

"Alright," he said, "What've we got here?"

After a quick look, he said, "Well, you guys look well armed. All this for just one girl, huh?"

With a wave of his hand, He brought up a heads-up display which showed him the details of the guns, "Really? Model 44? Hey, D? Uh, isn't there a high jam probability on those things?"

A glowing green Spartan appeared next to him and said, "The Charon Model 44 sidearm does not jam. You are thinking of the 42."

While Epsilon listened, he quickly calculated the trajectory of the rifles' shots. Two of those shots would Carolina's body and one was a headshot.

"You mean, we're thinking of it."

"Technically, only you are thinking of it," Delta pointed out, "I am just a memory of Delta."

Church moved to the side of the room, hoping to get a better perspective, "Well, I like having someone to talk to. I get lonely sometimes."

"May I suggest buying a dog?"

"Yeah... I'll consider it."

He then hear fireworks next to him and a childish voice spoke, "We're getting a dog?!"

"No, Theta!"

"Awww..."

"The model 44 does use computer assisted aim," Delta points out, "You could overload the processor and reduce accuracy by as much as 45%."

"Sounds good," I decide, "Put the twins on it!"

In a flash, Eta and Iota appeared and did their thing.

Epsilon watched as the rifles' accuracy drops down to 49%, "Alright, let's account for that in trajectories."

"Are you talking to me, or to Delta?" Theta asks.

"He's talking to all of us, Theta," Delta replies.

"I'm just thinking out loud, guys."

With the new calculations in place, the rays of light quickly change into smaller cones, but Carolina was still receiving damage, "Alright, that's good, but we can do better."

Theta then pointed out the trajectory of the door that had been thrown up by the explosion, "Oh, oh, look at this! You can use the door as a shield!"

"Hey, thanks, buddy!" Church quickly theorizes that the door would land right next to the table that Carolina was hiding behind and fall down to the right, then Carolina would hide behind it, protecting her from the shots, "Yeah, that's better."

"Still, blood loss would be-"

"God, I'm not done yet, Delta," Church snapped, "Just give me a second, OK?"

"A second is a long time for someone in our time base, Church."

"Just, hey, listen! Everybody stop talking to me at once, please!"

Just then, another figure appeared in front of him, **"Are you getting angry, Epsilon?"**

"No, Omega, I'm fine!" Epsilon yelled, waving him away, "Beat it!"

"I'm here if you need me," Omega chuckled as he fades away.

"He's scary," Theta murmured nervously.

"Hey," Church reassured him, "He can't do anything as long as we ignore him, okay, kiddo?"

Delta then summoned up another HUD, this one showing the armor upgrades that Carolina had acquired over the past few weeks, "Might I suggest preparing her healing unit?"

"Nope, I'm gonna need the power for her to escape."

"Assuming we make it that far."

"D, you are killing me with the negativity," Epsilon closed up the HUD, "Why don't you help me out and give me a bio-scan of these losers?"

Delta gave a quick once-over on the guards before bringing up the results of the one on the left, "This one has recently had knee surgery."

"Thank you!" Church cried in relief, "Okay, let's blow the bolts on that maintenance hatch, give him a little bit of a stumble."

But then one of the guns begins to flare at the end, "First shot fired."

"Alright, let's wrap this up. Gamma, where are we at?"

"FILES STILL TRANSFERRING," Gamma replied.

Epsilon brought Delta and Theta back to Carolina's side, "Okay, Carolina. How's your aim?"

Delta brought up another HUD, this one showing her stats, "Accuracy level at 92% efficiency. She hasn't been sleeping well."

Theta nodded slowly, "She's been having bad dreams... about the bad guy. Sometimes about Rhode too."

Church nodded in sympathy, "No, Theta, she's fine. Don't worry about it."

He then noticed the accuracy dropping down to 82%, "Delta! She's fine!"

Delta reset the stats, "This isn't very scientific."

"Well, sometimes, you just have to operate on faith."

"That seems unwise."

"Yeah, but it is more... fun."

Church give a quick scan of the various paths and outcomes before selecting one that would result in the guards getting knocked out, "There, that'll do it."

Theta then pointed out the HUD showing Carolina's stats; 94% chance of success, 63% chance of success without injury, "She won't like that injury part."

"She never does," Epsilon conceded, "But if she lives to complain about it, she still lives. Thanks, guys."

With a clap of his hands, he sent the memories away then returned to Carolina's side, "Alright, looks like it's just you and me, sis. Transfer analysis to your HUD... Okay, let's do this!"

 **XXX**

...and Carolina ducked behind the table as the door landed right next to her.

"Roll right!" Epsilon called out.

Quickly Carolina dived behind the door at the same moment that the soldier on the left stumbled as a hatch collapsed under her feet.

Carolina then leapt over the door and opened fire, taking out the soldier on the right. But then she received a hit on the side of her helmet, stunning her for a brief second. Shaking off the pain, she grabbed the door behind her and hurled it at the guard that shot her, almost flattening him. She then approached the last soldier, who was still trapped by the hatch. Carolina pulled off her helmet, tossed it aside, then punched the soldier in the face, knocking her out.

"Epsilon," Carolina called out.

But there was no reply, "Church!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm here," Epsilon called out, "I just lost a few pathways, but I can still hear you. How'd you do?"

"Had to improvise at the end, but you got me started."

"Eh, I had faith."

"Thanks," Carolina then realized that the download was complete and she pulled out the storage unit, "Data's here. Looks like our little scavenger hunt just got easier."

She pressed a button on the unit and brought up a hologram of a powerful-looking rifle, "You see this?"

"Yep," Epsilon replied, "Grab a helmet. We'll do some repairs on the way."

Carolina snatched up the discarded helmet just as alarms began to blare around them.

"Sorry, there's nothing I can do about that in this state. You need to move."

Carolina smiled as she slapped a button on her hip, "Already gone."

She then took off with a speed of a certain blue animal video game character and was out of the facility before anybody could see her...

 **XXX**

Later that morning, Carolina was resting on a hill that overlooked the facility, trying to fix her helmet while she examined the data she'd taken. The trouble was, the Recon helmet she'd taken had turned out to be incompatible with her Rogue helmet. She'd just have to improvise.

"Apparently, our friends in black aren't just focused on armor enhancements," she explained, putting her helmet aside, "These weapons are more advanced than anything we've encountered. How are they funding all of this?"

"Well, speak of the devil..." Epsilon pulled up a video recording, "...and he shall appear."

Carolina recognized the one image on the recording. It was Locus, the pirate who'd infiltrated the Federal Army.

But the other image was blank, "Another message from Control?"

"Yep. I picked out a clip you might find interesting," Epsilon started playing the recording.

"What did we lose?" came a heavily disguised voice on Control's end.

Carolina had always wondered why this 'Control' was hiding his identity, and why Locus had never asked either.

"A healing unit," Locus replied, "as well as several miscellaneous files."

Carolina gave a superior smirk, "Sounds like last week's raid made the headlines."

"Keep listening," Epsilon informed, "There's something you need to hear."

"This is unacceptable, Locus," Control rebuked, "I thought you told me you only work with reliable partners."

"I do," Locus reassured, "The individual in charge of that outpost has been eliminated. I saw to the matter personally."

"I'm not paying you to put bullets through the heads of space pirates. I'm paying you to ensure the acquisition of my property. And when you lose my property... you lose your payment."

Just then, another image popped up under Locus's image, this one showing a soldier in steel-gray armor with bright orange trim, "If I could interject for a second, you're not just paying to collect the Freelancer tech from the crash."

"Wait," Carolina cut in, "Who is that?"

"Ah, Felix," Control chuckled, "Straying away from the New Republic to join the conversation for once. To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"Those sim troopers and Freelancer you dumped on us are proving even more of a handful than an asset," Felix growled, "If they find where we're keeping Wash, and if Kimball thinks they're ready, I'm not gonna be able to stop them from searching for their leaders. And if they find their leaders, this whole civil war charade's gonna fall apart real quick."

"What?" Carolina gasped.

She had of course been aware that the Blood Gulch Crew had been separated by the Feds and the New Republic. One time, she had broken into a facility and pretended to be Control to ensure that Wash, Sarge, and Donut were not harmed. But now the appearance of Felix has revealed a greater discovery of the New Republic, and of the safety of the other Reds and Blues. And Rhode.

"I can assure you, they will never be ready," Control said.

"That's what I said," Felix replied, "But my partner isn't convinced."

"We will continue to move Agent Washington's group sporadically and-"

"Sir, if I may interrupt," Locus cut in, "What if they do manage to make contact?"

"This inquisitive behavior does not suit you, Locus," Control replied with some derision, "If the Reds and Blues manage to reunite... Kill them."

And the recording cut out.

"Carolina, we have to go back," Epsilon cried.

"What the heck is going on on this planet?" Carolina breathed.

"We can figure that out along the way. Right now, we just need to get back to the guys. If Control has infiltrated both sides of this war-"

"I know," Carolina replied, getting to her feet, "Recovering equipment can wait."

"Actually, there's one more thing I wanna pick up."

"What?"

"We're a long way from the guys," Epsilon brought up another image, this one showing some orange spiked cubes and labeled 'Teleportation Grenades', "So what we need is a shortcut."

Carolina took a moment to read the article then she knelt down and picked up the Recon helmet, "Let's go."

 **XXX**

 **And that's what Carolina has been up to. Till next time guys!**


	13. Chapter 12: The Reunion

**Chapter 12: The Reunion**

 **PRESENT DAY**

 **FOREST BASE**

Once everyone had gotten their heads straight, Carolina and Epsilon led the Blood Gulch Crew and Dr. Emily Grey back to her hidden encampment. On the way, Epsilon told the team about they had followed them to Chorus after saving them from imprisonment. Upon arrival, Carolina took Dr. Grey aside and got her working on her wounded leg.

Dr. Grey took out her medical scanner and swept it over her thigh.

"How bad is it?" Carolina asked.

"Well, fortunately, he missed your femoral artery," Dr. Grey replied.

"That's good."

"No, sweetie, you had a knife inside of you. That's the opposite of good."

Carolina grabbed the scanner and pulled Dr. Grey to her feet, "Call me 'sweetie' again, and there'll be a knife inside of you."

"Ooooh, you're hostile! I'd love to psychoanalyze you."

"The leg, please!"

"Oh, yes," Dr. Grey took out a small device, switched it on and swept its light over the wound on Carolina's leg.

Instantly, the wound sealed itself, leaving a small red scar, "There we go. Be sure not to put any unnatural strain on those muscles. If you reopen the wound, it won't be pretty."

As Carolina stood up, Epsilon appeared next to her shoulder, "Great. Hey, way to go, Carolina. Taken out by an oversized steak knife."

"Well, maybe if someone had remembered to account for hidden blades," Carolina retorted as they rejoined the Reds and Blues.

"Hey, I'm an AI, not a babysitter!"

Dr. Grey frowned as she stared at Epsilon, "Soooo, there's a tiny ghost man here. Anyone care to introduce me?"

"Oh, that's Church," Caboose replied, "Yeah, he had to leave for a while, but I knew he would come back!"

"Bullcrap!" Tucker cried, "You were totally depressed."

"Pssh, oh what? No!" Caboose scoffed, "No, Tucker, you're not remembering that right! No, I would not do something like that. I would not spiral downward into an emotional state of loneliness and try to fill the remains with a mechanical pet just because I miss Church! Stupid Tucker..."

"Oh," Emily murmured. "Forget you, I wanna analyze him."

Rhode quickly jumped in, "Dr. Grey, this is Agent Carolina. She, Wash, and I were operatives for Project Freelancer. As for Church, he's an artificial intelligence fragment from the same organization, codename: Epsilon. And to make a long story short, he kind of used to be the leader of Blue Team before Wash showed up."

"And tried to murder us," Epsilon cut in sharply.

"That was a misunderstanding," Wash argued.

"I know. I'm just sayin', don't gloss over the good parts."

"At least he didn't abandon us," Tucker snapped.

"Psychoanalyses for everyone!" Dr. Grey cheered.

"Oh boy, can I go first?" Donut cried out, "I have got a lot of things crammed inside me!"

"Now hold up just a second," Sarge butted in, "I wanna know what in the name of Benedict Arnold Palmer is going on around here! We've been tricked, we've been backstabbed, and we've been quite possibly bamboozled!"

"Yeah," Grif agreed, "And whenever that stuff starts happening, it typically means you Freelancers had something to do with it."

"Project Freelancer is gone," Carolina assured them, "We all saw to that."

"'Colorful Space Marines Stop Corruption'," Dr. Grey stated, waving her hand in front of her as if showing a news headline, "That was the news article Locus brought General Doyle when he suggested we find you. I always thought the title was meant to describe your appearances, but now I think I get what the writer was going for."

"What I'm saying is that Project Freelancer isn't behind any of this," Carolina's face became serious, "This is... something else."

"Hmm, the plot thickens," Rhode muttered.

"Look, man, after we were shot down, Carolina picked up a transmission," Epsilon explained, "A couple of idiots were talking about selling cloaking equipment to another bunch of idiots. There was no way we were gonna let that fly. So, she decided to leave, I decided to go with her! Figured you guys would be fine on your own, OK?"

"Oh yeah, totally," Tucker retorted sarcastically, "We were totally fine, just doing our thing; hanging out, drinking margaritas, getting captured by evil mercenaries. Grreat time!"

"Oh, man, Tucker, I am so sorry," Epsilon breathed, "I meant it, my sincerest apologies. I had no idea that you have turned into such a whiny little girl while I was gone."

Tucker whipped out his rifle and shot at Epsilon, but the bullets just passed right through his body.

"And you still haven't grasped the concept of a hologram," Epsilon added, shaking his head, "Man, you're just having a really tough time today, aren't you, buddy?"

"Man, and I thought we had issues," Simmons chuckled.

"Heh, this is better than any daytime television drama," Sarge agreed, "And that's some quality programming."

"Maybe Church will turn out to be someone's long-lost brother," Donut put in, "And his real name is Horatio!"

"I'd watch it," Sarge replied.

"I think we've had enough plot twists for one lifetime," Grif muttered.

"Alright, enough," Wash cut in, "Tucker, there's no way they could have known all of this would happen. Right now, we need to focus on the bigger issues at hand, even if Epsilon is being a jerk."

"Alright, don't you start too," Epsilon snapped.

"After we set up this camp, we started exploring," Carolina took up the explanation, "And it didn't take long for us to realize that something was very wrong with this planet. Abandoned cities, soldiers everywhere. We kept to the shadows and gathered as much intel as we could, and what we found was worse than I had anticipated."

"How so?" Rhode asked.

"This third faction on Chorus, these space pirates, have managed to acquire Freelancer equipment and are manufacturing more advanced versions of it on a mass scale. Versions that don't require the assistance of an AI."

"But how is that possible?" Simmons cried, "I thought the UNSC confiscated everything Project Freelancer ever created."

"They did, with a little help from me and Epsilon," Carolina admitted, "But then they put those creations on a ship, and that ship crashed here."

"Oh..." Rhode thought before going, "OHHhhhhhhh..."

Tucker's eyes widened in shock, "Wait, what?"

"Come on, guys," Epsilon exclaimed, "Don't you think it's a little weird that your transport vessel _also_ happened to be carrying tons of weapons and vehicles, and that it just so happened to magically crash on a planet in need of those kind of things?"

Wash raised an eyebrow, "What exactly are you suggesting?"

"Someone wanted that ship to crash," Carolina replied grimly.

Everyone was silent for a few seconds.

"Sooo," Simmons murmured, "What you're saying is, there's no way any of us could be responsible for the crash."

"I... well, yes," Carolina replied confused, "Why do you ask?"

Simmons just gave a nervous grimace.

 **XXX**

 _Flashback_

On board the ship, while Wash and Rhode were exploring the generator room, Simmons had gone wandering around the navigation room.

After a while, he came out, humming to himself, as one of the spaceship operators arrived, "Sir, this area is reserved for authorized personnel only. What were you doing in there?"

"Oh!" Simmons cried, turning to face him, "Sorry, I just noticed you guys were using a really outdated web browser. I went ahead and updated it for you. Now it's the one NASA uses! No need to thank me."

"Those are the ship's navigation systems!" the operator cried, "You can't just update that stuff!"

"Tell me about it! Once I started with the browser, I couldn't stop myself from changing the graphics card too."

"You WHAT?!"

"And the motherboard. And the fan. And- oh, hey by the way, uh, I'm glad you're here. How do you feel about acrylic window panels?"

The operator just stared at him in shocked silence, "I..."

"The answer is, you love 'em," Simmons chuckled.

At that moment, alarms blared across the ship and red lights flashed on.

 _End flashback yet again_

 **XXX**

"No reason!" Simmons blurted out nervously, at the same time as Tucker, Grif, Wash, Rhode, and Sarge.

"Uh, you guys are missing the point!" Epsilon cut in, "Someone managed to ensure that Freelancer equipment made it right here, to this tiny rock in the middle of space. These guys aren't just some random raiders and mercenaries; they're organized. And they've managed to work their way into our own forces!"

"In short," Carolina concluded, "we have no idea who we can trust until we find the people behind all of this."

"Okay, hold up," Tucker cried, "Aren't we all forgetting something here?"

"Ah!" Caboose gasped, "Yesterday was Mother's Day."

"No, idiot," Tucker sighed, "There are two armies that are ready to blow each other's brains out thanks to Locus and Felix. We gotta tell them they're being used."

"That's... not going to be easy," Carolina warned.

"What do you mean? We've got those teleporter cubes. That's how we got here, right? Let's just zap ourselves over to the New Republic."

"Not a chance, Tucker," Epsilon cut in, "We've only got a few of those things left, they're kinda tricky to use and they put an enormous strain on the physical body, which by the way, all of you have."

"Huh, says you!" Donut scoffed, turning away... and immediately falling to the ground.

"That's not even the main problem, though," Epsilon continued.

"Those mercenaries are thorough," Carolina explained, "They've got some sort of radio jammer set up that only allow broadcasting on certain frequencies, and they monitor all other open channels. We tried to contact you when we overheard your radio transmission to Donut from the crash site. Not only did we fail, but Locus managed to trace the call back to this hideout. We were lucky he missed us and I doubt we'll have luck on our side again."

"Yeah," Epsilon agreed, shuddering as he remembered the close call that day, "And if they've gone through all this trouble to keep their radios quiet, I can guarantee you they're not gonna let you guys within a mile of Doyle or Kimball. If they're not already by their side, then their cloaked space buddies definitely are."

"We need more intel," Carolina declared, "We need the upper hand on these guys before we can even think about taking them on again. And to make matters worse, we don't have much time."

"What makes you say that?" Sarge asked.

"We've managed to eavesdrop on a few conversations between the mercenaries and someone calling themselves 'Control'. They're got plans and protocols for just about everything." Carolina's eyes narrowed, "And I'm willing to bet they've got one for this."

"Meaning?" Rhode hinted.

"Look at it this way," Epsilon replied, "Twelve people on this planet know what's really going on, and until those twelve people are tracked down and killed - I'm talking about you guys, by the way -there's really only one thing these space pirates can do."

He turned and looked towards the heavens, "And that's to finish what they started..."

 **XXX**

At that moment, in an abandoned compound several miles away from the forest, the space pirates' top agents were waiting in the monitor room for their orders. Of the two, Locus was being the most patient and stoic. Felix meanwhile was pacing back and forth restlessly, pausing only to fling his knife through the visor of a dead Fed.

"Oh, ooohhh, wonderful!" Felix scoffed, "Duped by a Freelancer posing as one of our own men. Can you taste the irony in that?!"

"If you've kept your ego under control, they'd be dead by now," Locus retorted.

"Okay, no, we don't have the facts to prove that, alright?" Felix snapped, turning to glare at Locus, "So let's not, you know, start throwin' blame out or anything, okay, please? Thank you, you're welcome."

Suddenly Locus grabbed Felix by his chest-plate and pulled him closer to his visor, "Stop talking."

Just then, the monitor switched on and the shadowy image of Control appeared, "Gentlemen. Though I'm inclined to chastise you further for your most recent failure, I suggest we focus on the opportunity at hand."

"And exactly which opportunity is that?" Felix asked, pulling himself out of Locus's grip.

"The Reds and Blues are missing."

"It won't be long before my scout team finds them," Locus assured Control.

"Perhaps. But all that truly matters is that you prevent them from making contact with their armies."

"We got snipers shadowing the generals as we speak," Felix replied.

"Marvelous. Then you are to report back to your respective armies, and report the deaths of the Reds and Blues. They will become the martyrs needed to push these people towards one final confrontation. Do I make myself clear?"

Felix smiled grimly as he pulled out his knife from the Fed's corpse, "Crystal."

 **XXX**

 **ARMONIA**

 **FEDERAL ARMY CITADEL**

General Doyle paced around his office nervously. Some time ago, he'd received a garbled message from the outpost where he'd left Wash and his friends. He couldn't get much detail, but it seemed like another attack. There was no doubt in his mind that those blasted rebels from the New Republic had struck again, but he needed more proof.

At that moment, his door slid open and a soldier came in, giving a smart salute, "General, Locus has returned from his reconnaissance."

"Send him in," Doyle replied gruffly.

The soldier nodded and left the office. Moments later, Locus came in.

"Ah, Locus," Doyle said, putting on a superior tone, "What brings you here?"

Locus bowed his head. "General, I regret to inform you that Outpost 37 has been attacked by the New Republic."

"Yes, I received a message. What happened?"

"I wasn't able to get much intel, but apparently the rebels managed to blow their way inside and massacred every man inside, including Dr. Emily Grey."

Doyle's heart froze, "And... what of the Reds and Blues? Did they escape?"

"I'm afraid not. I found their bodies outside the facility. I am uncertain of the cause of their deaths, but we can only assume that the New Republic may have had something to do with it," Locus shook his head, "I am sorry, sir."

Doyle turned his head away sadly, "No... Those anarchists have gone too far. It's bad enough that they destroyed our outpost, but to kill our only chance of actually winning this war... It's inexcusable!"

"Sir, we don't have much time," Locus added, "The New Republic managed to get the location of the city. Any day now, they'll be approaching the city in force. This could be our only chance to destroy the rebels once and for all."

"You're right," Doyle replied, lifting his head, "I'll call all my top officers to plan our defenses! We'll not let our allies' deaths be in vain."

Locus nodded with a sinister grin, "I couldn't agree with you more, sir."

 **XXX**

 **NEW REPUBLIC HEADQUARTERS**

Kimball kept watch outside the base as she waited for Felix's return. Behind her, Bitters, Palomo, Jensen and Smith waited too. Some time ago, they had reported Felix's departure and Kimball had taken the news badly at first, but then she seemed certain that he was doing the right thing. She would save her anger for Tucker and his friends when they got back.

At that moment, Bitters spotted something entering the cave, "Hey, there's a jeep approaching!"

"Is it our captains?" Palomo cried.

"No..." Bitters raised the sniper scope to look, "It's Felix."

"Jutht Felicth?" Jensen asked.

The jeep pulled up and Felix jumped out.

As he approached, Kimball quickly noticed that his armor had been damaged by gunfire and his left arm was stained with blood, "Felix, what happened? Where are the others?"

"Kimball, I'm sorry," Felix gasped, "But Tucker, and the others..."

"What? What about them?" Smith demanded.

Felix turned his head away, "The Reds and Blues... are dead."

Kimball gasped in horror, "What?"

"No! I don't believe you!" Smith bellowed.

"It can't pothibly be true," Jensen breathed.

"Believe me, I saw it," Felix shook his head, "When I got to the facility, I saw them in battle. I tried to save them, but it was too late... I barely escaped with my life."

Bitters gave an angry yell and slammed his fist into the ground. Palomo covered his visor with one hand and turned away sadly. Jensen broke down into floods of tears and Smith comforted her.

Kimball meanwhile just shook her head, her eyes threatening to tear up, "Those idiots... Why Tucker?"

With a sigh, she turned and left the office.

Felix watched her go with a grim smile.

 **XXX**

 **What a douche... And to think he used to be so awesome. Till next time guys!**


	14. Chapter 13: Catch Up, No Mustard

**Chapter 13: Catch Up, No Mustard**

Unaware of Locus and Felix's sinister plots, the Reds and Blues were already facing a problem with their plans, that being the complete disinclination of one of their own members.

"Grif," Carolina said slowly, "We just want to look at it."

"Yeah, right!" Grif snapped, keeping the suppressor rifle trained on his surrounding friends, "That's what the UNSC guys said about the Grifshot, and I never saw it again!"

Carolina blinked in confusion, "The what?"

"It's what he called the Meta's weapon," Simmons explained, "Grif stole it from him and kept it as a trophy until the UNSC confiscated it."

"Until then, I thought I was the only one man enough around here to cry," Donut agreed, "But Grif proved me wrong."

"Ha!" Tucker chuckled.

"It had sentimental value!" Grif sobbed, clutching the rifle close to his chest like a child would clutch his favorite teddy bear.

"Darn it, Grif!" Sarge yelled, "Hand over that laser this instant!"

"You can't tell me what to do! I outrank you, again!"

"What the... Very well," Sarge cocked his trusty weapon and pointed it at Grif, "Let's see you outrank the end of my shotgun!"

"Uh, done," Grif replied, raising the suppressor again."

"Yeah, this is taking forever," Epsilon decided.

In the blink of an eye, he shifted into his larger form and ran towards Grif.

"Hey! Hey, wait a minute!" Grif tried to run, but too late as Epsilon leapt into his armor, "Hurk-ahh!"

Before he knew it, Epsilon had taken him over completely.

"Hoo! Okay. Alright, here you go," he said, tossing the suppressor over to Carolina.

"Thanks," Carolina then grimaced and glanced down at the rifle, "Ugh, why is this so greasy?"

"You think that's bad?" Epsilon retorted, folding Grif's arms, "Imagine how I feel right now. Being inside this body is like trying to breathe through a trash can."

With that, he jumped out of Grif's body.

"Gross," Rhode grimaced.

"He-gurk-gah!" Grif cried as he regained control of his body, "Dang it! I hate that!"

"Fascinating!" Dr. Grey gasped, as Epsilon shrank back to his original size, "An AI with the ability to jump from soldier to soldier. Tell me, Carolina, does he travel via your neural implants or is it something more subtle?"

"Implants," Carolina replied, "All Freelancer personnel have them, and most sim troopers like these guys."

"I thought only the Alpha could do that," Tucker recalled.

"Yeah, just another trick I picked up from one of my... old memory buddies," As he spoke, Epsilon's body flickered slightly, "God, it gives me a headache though."

"C'mon, let's dismantle this thing and see what we can learn," Carolina declared.

"Hey, look, but..." Grif spluttered.

"When we're done, you can have it back in one piece... probably," Carolina half-promised.

"Ooh, ooh, you mind if I tag along?" Simmons called out excitedly.

"Yeah, and me!" Sarge added, equally eager, "Advanced weaponry is my fifth favorite hobby! Right behind destroying my enemies, but just ahead of karaoke!"

"No thanks," Carolina cut in hastily, "Uh, I think Epsilon and I have it handled? Why don't you catch up for a while? You've all been through a lot."

"Yeah, I'd stick around for the reunion," Epsilon added, "But... uh, some of you guys still seem pretty ticked at me so... I'm just gonna wait for that to settle."

"Come on," Rhode said, "Can I at least come along?"

Carolina looked at him for a few seconds and smiled, "Sure, why not."

With that, he, Church, and Carolina went into the base.

For a moment, the Reds and Blues were silent.

Then Donut cleared his throat and turned to his fellow teammates, "Sooo... How have you guys been?"

"Shut up," Grif snapped.

"Same old, same old, uh?" Donut chuckled, "That's cool."

"Well," Dr. Grey spoke up, "I don't want to intrude on such a sweet moment of reconnection..."

"Fine with me," Washington muttered.

"I was being polite, I'm much more interested in foreign technology. Bye!" With that, Dr. Grey turned and ran off into the base.

"Okay, bye!" Caboose called, "She seems nice."

"Right?" Donut agreed.

"I think she has a few screws loose," Simmons murmured.

"Oh-ho," Tucker chuckled with a sly grin, "I could always help her out with that. Bow chicka bow-"

"Wait!" Caboose cut in.

"Aw, c'mon, dude!" Tucker cried, throwing his hands out, "It's been ages!"

"Washington, I-I almost forgot!" Caboose continued, "Uh, where's Freckles? Uh, he probably had some screws loose also."

Wash froze at Caboose's words and Sarge was quick to notice, "Ohh... You know what? I think I'm just gonna go take a peek at that laser thing after all. I'm just dying to see it..."

Simmons and Lopez turned to look at him, "Uh, I mean it's killin' me not to... Uh... Oh..."

He paused for a moment then shook his head, "Nope, got nothin'."

With that, he simply left.

"Yeeaahh," Simmons murmured.

"(Smooth)," Lopez agreed, running after Sarge.

Simmons and Grif both glanced at Donut who shook his head sadly. Understanding the message, they followed their pink teammate out.

Wash quickly glanced at Tucker, who quickly understood the silent message and hurried out after the Reds, leaving Caboose and Wash alone.

"Yeah, this is great," Caboose said gleefully, "Church is back, you're back. It's like all of us made it back safe and sound in one piece! No problem."

Wash gave an uncomfortable look, "Uhh, Caboose-"

"And alive!"

"Caboose, uh... I'm not really sure how to tell you this... without both confusing you and breaking your disturbingly fragile heart."

"I AM AN EMOTIONAL TIME BOMB!"

"Jesus Christ..." Wash gave a deep sigh and pulled out Freckles' storage unit from his belt pocket, "Caboose, I'm afraid this... is all that's left of Freckles. It's his brain, sort of."

Caboose's face fell as he took the storage unit and stared at it, "Freckles? You're... you're..."

Then he lifted the unit up with a huge grin, "You're so tiny now!"

Wash's eyebrows flew up in surprise, "Uh, what?"

"It's so good to see you again!" Caboose hugged the unit close to his face and rubbed his fingers over it, "Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy, Freckles?"

"So, you're... okay then?"

"Ah, Wash, this is great!" Caboose cheered, grabbing his leader in a hug, "Now he can fit in my pocket and I don't have to worry about him trying to kill anyone anymore!"

"I guess that is sort of better," Wash admitted.

Caboose beamed as he put Freckles' unit in his pocket, "Thanks for looking out for Freckles, Wash. I know he can be a handful."

"Literally, at this point."

"Alright, let's go for a walk, Freckles, 'cause Wash is acting weird and dramatic again," With that, Caboose turned and set off into the base, "Good to have ya back, Agent Washington!"

Wash smiled and nodded slowly, "It's good to be back."

At that very moment, Grif's voice rang out from the base, "Back off, lady, or I will put you in the ground!"

"Aaand, the moment's passed," Wash sighed.

 **XXX**

He came into the base to find Grif aiming the suppressor at Carolina, surrounded by the rest of the Blood Gulch Crew.

"You were about to take it apart!" Grif accused angrily.

"What did you think 'dismantle' meant?" Rhode retorted.

"How did he manage to get the laser back?" Wash asked.

"He's deceptively heavy," Simmons replied.

"(Well, he already looks fat,)" Lopez noted, "(So that's saying something.)"

Carolina took a step forward. "Grif, for the last time, put the laser-"

Before Carolina could finish, Grif fired the suppressor, barely missing her as she ducked down.

"Oops," Grif gasped, lowering the gun. "Uh, okay, look, that was an accident."

"Dude," Rhode breathed, "You just messed up... Big time."

Carolina's eyes narrowed, "I'm going to break your fingers now."

"Yipe!" Grif squeaked, backing away.

"Excuse me," Dr. Grey cut in, approaching Grif, "Where did you find that rifle?"

"Hey, I picked it up after Carolina dropped it at the snow base," Grif replied, "Are you even familiar with the International Dibs Protocol?"

"Mind if I take a look?" Dr. Grey asked.

Grif pulled the rifle close to his chest, "My gun!"

"I'm not gonna take it apart or anything, I just want to see it."

"Will you give it back afterwards?"

Dr. Grey raised a hand, "Promise."

Grif thought it over for a moment, "Well, alright. Here you go."

He handed the gun over.

"So where did you find this thing, Carolina?" Dr. Grey asked, examining the gun.

"The pirates have been manufacturing these along with the armor enhancements," Carolina explained, "They got facilities scattered around the planet."

"So then, you're sure it's man-made?"

"Yeah, I'm positive," Epsilon replied. "Why?"

"Well, for starters, it isn't using human technology. It just fired some kind of modified plasma energy. Very deadly, and pretty!"

"Plasma?" Sarge asked.

"Alien energy source." By means of demonstrate, Dr. Grey raised the gun up and fired a single shot, sending a bolt of energy up into a nearby tree and blowing a branch to cinders, "See? I've seen it countless times in archeological digs."

"Wait, I thought you were a surgeon," Simmons said.

"I have an IQ of 240," Dr. Grey replied, giving the gun back to Grif, "A prodigy can only cut people open so many times before she needs to find a hobby."

"Jesus," Epsilon muttered, "Couldn't you try cross-stitching?"

"I sewed them back up, thank you very much."

"Hey, didn't Felix say that he was paid in alien tech?" Tucker recalled.

"I believe he said he was paid in babies," Caboose added.

Epsilon grimaced. "The crap?"

"Don't ask," Grif advised.

"He was definitely carrying around an old plasma rifle," Simmons remembered, "But I thought he said it was broken. He even demonstrated by pointing it at Tucker."

"Scared the crap out of us," Tucker agreed, "But when he pulled the trigger, nothing happened. It was definitely busted."

"It's likely it was," Dr. Grey replied, "The Federal Army arranged a similar deal with Locus. They figured trading useless antiques for military assistance was a good deal."

"So the mercs stock up on alien technology," Carolina reasoned, "and hand it over to the pirates for reverse engineering..."

"Giving them a new kind of weapon," Wash added, following her thoughts, "Half human, half alien."

"And every single one of them pointed at us," Epsilon finished grimly, "Fantastic."

"Wait," Rhode snapped his fingers in realization, "I remember now! Carolina, Wash, remember the mission where I got my arm cut off?"

"How could I?" Carolina said, "What about it?"

"The whole reason I was sent there was because those guys were making half-man, half-alien weapons that did the exact same stuff as this! I thought that when the base blew up, that would be the end of it. Apparently not."

"A few models might have shipped out before you blew it up," Carolina said, "Probably enough for whoever Control hired to test them."

"Do you have anything else like this?" Dr. Grey asked.

"What about the future cubes?" Grif put in.

Carolina blinked in confusion, "The what?"

"You know, these things," Grif replied, picking up one of the glowing orange cubes.

"Future cubes!" Donut declared, "The cubes of the future!"

"They look kinda like the laser gun, right?"

"That's your deductive reasoning?" Simmons spluttered, "They're related because they're both orange and glowy."

"So?"

"So?! If I heated your armor to a thousand degrees, would you think you're related too?"

Donut gulped in horror, "Fahrenheit or Celsius?"

"Oh come on," Grif cried, "There's clearly a resemblance!"

"Oh of course," Sarge drawled sarcastically, "Just like the uncanny resemblance between apples and fire trucks, or Caboose and the Pacific Ocean, or Lopez and a dingleberry!"

"Okay, I get it," Grif cut in.

"Hey, Grif, let me ask you a question," Epsilon spoke up, "You ever get your sister confused with mustard? You know, since they're both yellow and cheap?"

Grif raised the suppressor and fired again. Epsilon glanced down as the energy bolts shot through his body. Rhode had to cover his mouth to keep from busting out laughing.

"Yeah, nice try. Still a hologram, by the way."

"Epsilon, he's right," Carolina then said.

"Yeah, I know. I just wanted in on the action!"

"Both types of equipment seem to utilize some form of alien engineering," Carolina then took the cube from Grif and glanced at it, "But... how did you know how the teleporters look like?"

"'Cos we had them in the canyon, duh," Grif replied.

"Wait, you did?" Epsilon cried.

"Yeah!" Donut responded, "They were awesome!"

"We found them while we were sneaking aboard the ship one night in an attempt to destroy the Blues," Sarge paused in his explanation when he saw the Blues looking at him, "I mean, the Blues' robot. May he rest in peace."

"Which reminds me," Grif stated, turning to Carolina and Epsilon, "How did you guys teleport with these things? We could only figure out how to transport random junk."

"(And Doc)," Lopez added, "(You accidentally teleported Doc.)"

"You what?" Rhode asked.

"Oh my gosh, that's right!" Donut gasped, "We did use them to defeat Dos.0!"

"(Oh, for goodness sake)," Lopez groaned, visor-palming.

"Okay, everybody shut up!" Epsilon yelled, "Listen, if the same people making weapons on Chorus had cargo on our ship, then we might be able to find out who they are."

"How?" Simmons asked.

"A manifest?" Carolina replied as if it was obvious.

"Yep," Epsilon said.

"That's right," Wash realized, "A transport ship that size would need to keep track of all its cargo."

"So if we find the manifest, we find out who supplied the teleportation grenades," Carolina agreed.

Tucker looked skeptical, "So you think a bunch of evil bad guys, working outside of the law, are gonna worry about paperwork?"

"What, you got any better ideas?" Epsilon shouted.

Tucker frowned then sighed, "No..."

"Then we have our objective," Carolina decided, "Half of us will travel back to the canyon and search Crash Site Bravo for the manifest."

"Why split up?" Simmons asked.

Carolina turned to face the whole group, "Because the rest of us will be searching the other half of the ship... at Crash Site Alpha."

 **XXX**

 **Yeah, I brought back that little side mission Rhode did in the first book. Hopefully you remember it. Till next time guys!**


	15. Chapter 14: Crash Site Crashers

**Chapter 14: Crash Site Crashers**

At the New Republic's headquarters, Felix came down to the underground lake, hoping to find Kimball there. Sue enough, he found her sitting on the edge of the balcony, looking out over the green-lit waters.

As he approached, Kimball turned round, "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to see how you were doing," Felix replied.

"How am I doing?" Kimball retorted furiously, "How do you think I'm doing?! I put all of our hopes into the hands of a bunch of strangers, and they run off and get themselves killed!"

"It was a leap of faith. Sometimes you fall."

"Well, we're falling fast," Kimball sighed, turning to look at the lake, "I believed in them."

Felix smiled to himself.

The moment was coming to get the New Republic right where Control wanted them, "And they believed in us."

"What are you talking about?" Kimball yelled, "They left us!"

"Kimball, they accomplished their mission," Felix interrupted, "They actually managed to rescue their friends and they were going to come back, I saw them. They wanted to end this war. They wanted peace for Chorus."

Kimball sighed and shook her head, "Well, what good does that do us now?"

"Plenty," Felix sat down next to Kimball and looked at her, "If you go back up there, and you tell those men that their heroes died fighting for them, then you can turn this tragedy into something more, turn it into fuel for one last fire."

Kimball turned to him, "Felix, they're mourning."

"When they should be fighting!" Felix put his hand under Kimball's chin and lifted her head up to gaze into her eyes, "Vanessa, how many people have we lost at this point? Do you think it'd even count? The only thing different about these soldiers is that they inspired us. And I'm telling you, they can still inspire us even though they're gone."

He then sighed and removed his hand, "I was waiting to tell you, I recovered some data from the compound. The Feds are all gathering in the capital this week, and I mean all of them. Some sort of rally or something, I don't have all the details, but it sounds like they're getting ready for one last push. I guess without the Reds and Blues, they think they can finally put an end to us. But I think we need to hit them first."

"You want to storm Armonia?" Kimball gasped, "That's insane."

"I want all of us to do it!" Felix replied.

Now was the time for the convincing, "Think about it: One last mission that could end everything. We may never have another chance at this."

Kimball looked away with regret, "I told Tucker the same thing..."

"You've got an army up there that wants to avenge our heroes! I say it's time you let them."

For a few moments, Kimball was silent.

Then she nodded slowly, "Okay. Okay, this could work."

Then she shook her head and looked up with more determination, "No, it will work! It has to."

"Now there's the leader I know," Felix chuckled, "Never give up, right?"

"Right!" Kimball got to her feet, "Transfer that data to my personal computer. Then let's get a meeting together in the war room."

"You got it, boss!" Felix replied, getting up to leave.

"And Felix..." Kimball called, making the merc turn, "Thank you... for everything."

Felix gave a little smile. His whole message had been a lie, of course. He'd heard the news of the Feds' meeting from Locus, and Control had fabricated the data to make it look like he'd stolen it. With a just few words and the trust of Kimball, he'd given just the right amount of edge to send the whole of the New Republic to their inevitable destruction.

"I'm just doing my job," he said to Kimball.

 **XXX**

Unaware of Felix's conniving with Kimball, the Blood Gulch Crew were preparing themselves for their dangerous mission to the two Crash Sites. Carolina had decided that the Red Team would go to the canyon to get the manifest from Crash Site Bravo while she took the Blue Team to Crash Site Alpha and find out what they could.

"Alright," she announced to the group, "Each team has two teleportation grenades; one to transport you there and one to get you back. First priority is obtaining the manifest, but while we're in, we should also search for additional supplies. Teleporters, weaponry, anything that could help."

She then picked up two teleportation grenades and handed them to Sarge, "I don't expect there to be a hostile presence at Bravo, but be careful nonetheless."

"Don't get shot, got it," Sarge replied.

Then she picked up two more cubes and turned to the Blue Team, "Alpha's another story. We've acquired its coordinates for teleportation, but never actually investigated the area. From what we gathered, it's a massive hotspot for pirate activity. I'd understand if you don't want to join us."

"Given the situation, I'd say you need all the help you can get," Washington replied, "Count us in."

"Yeah," Caboose agreed, "Pretty sure Church would be disappointed if I didn't come also, so..."

Carolina then turned to Emily, "Dr. Grey, you stay here and keep an eye on things while we're gone."

"Wonderful!" Dr. Grey declared, "I'll prepare a meal out of the surrounding fungi and vegetation for your return!"

"Please don't," Rhode groaned.

Tucker turned to the Reds, "See you when we get back?"

"Just don't get captured," Simmons advised, "The last thing we need is another stupid rescue mission!"

"Amen," Grif agreed.

"Okay, people," Epsilon announced, "The mission starts now."

With that, the two teams took ten paces back then each dropped a grenade at their feet and in two flashes of light, they disappeared to their respective destinations.

 **XXX**

The moment the Blue Team arrived, Carolina left the others to recover from the transport while she went off to explore their surroundings, "What can you see, Epsilon?"

"Motion tracker says we're clear," Epsilon replied.

"Clear?"

"What, did I stutter?"

Carolina frowned, "And you're sure we're in the right place?"

"Carolina?" Rhode called at that moment.

Immediately, Carolina ran back to the Blue Team, to find them staring up into the horizon.

As she came up, Rhode pointed upwards, "I think we're in the right place."

Carolina turned and spotted the broken half of the ship, giving her proof that this was indeed Crash Site Alpha. But that wasn't what Rhode was pointing at. What he was pointing at was a massive alien tower shooting a laser beam up into the stratosphere.

 **XXX**

 **JUNGLE CANYON, "CRASH SITE BRAVO"**

Meanwhile, the Reds had made it to their destination without meeting any resistance. At once, Sarge and Donut had set off into the shipwreck to find the manifest, leaving Grif, Simmons and Lopez outside to search the rest of the canyon.

Now they had arrived at their old base, thinking back on the days before they met Locus and Felix.

"I remember it being bigger," Grif said, glancing around the building.

"No way, this place was always cramped," Simmons retorted, "I couldn't walk two feet without stepping in your garbage!"

"Oh come on, guys," Donut told them over their radios, "It's not the size that matters, it's how you use it!"

Lopez just scoffed, "(As someone who was once a severed head, I can assure you this place was always a pile of crap no matter what size you are.)"

"Hey, knuckleheads," Sarge yelled, "Get your butts off memory lane and get back to looking for supplies! Me and Princess Bubblegum have got an entire ship to search! So far, we ain't found diddely squat. The least you can do is quit jamming up the radio with your darn pillow talk! You got that?"

"Technically, sir, you only have half a ship to search," Grif pointed out.

"Why, you good-for-nothing, little-" Sarge's rants were cut off as Grif switched off his radio.

"Nice," Simmons chuckled.

Grif turned to him in confusion, "You know, Simmons, I can't help but notice a severe lack of sucking-up ever since we found Sarge."

"Uh, well, we've all been busy with the genocide prevention thing," Simmons replied, "You know how it goes."

"(Jesus, you guys really do pillow talk,)" Lopez muttered, heading out into the canyon, "(I'm out of here.)"

"I don't know, man," Grif stated, ignoring Lopez's departure, "Maybe being in charge of those rebel guys rubbed off on you."

"Hey, Donut again," Donut called out just then, "I think you accidentally muted Sarge, but I couldn't help but overhear about just you said about guys rubbing off-"

Grif muted his transmission too.

"What do you mean?" Simmons cried, "We were terrible leaders."

"Well yeah," Grif conceded, "But you gotta admit, they did make you feel pretty important."

Simmons thought about it for a moment, "Yeah, I guess."

"Hey, where's Lopez?" Grif then asked.

"I don't know," Simmons murmured, "Probably off doing the actual mission or something."

"(Hey guys!)" Lopez called out at that moment, "(I found Dos.0's giant body! What a jerk!)"

 **XXX**

 **CRASH SITE ALPHA**

"This is bullcrap!" Tucker snapped as the Blue Team made their way towards the ship, "They've got armor enhancements, they've got laser guns, and now they've got giant space temples shooting loads of energy out of the ground?! The crap is that about?"

"If you don't keep your voice down, we'll never find out," Carolina warned him.

"Whatever," Tucker retorted, "Church said the place was deserted."

"Still, it gives me the creeps," Rhode turned to look at the ruins of a strange alien craft, "And I'm starting to think we might not have been the only ones to crash on this planet."

"Oh, what was your first clue?" Tucker retorted sarcastically.

"Mine was the spaceship," Caboose replied.

Soon they were wandering through the rusted remains of the transport ship, searching for any useful items.

Then they heard Carolina calling to them, "Over here!"

They met her in front of a computer, where Epsilon was currently examining the screen.

"Think this will work?" Carolina asked.

"Well, it's still online, so there's that at least," Epsilon replied, "Infrastructure's a mess though, it's... Oh, man. Hold on a second."

He then placed his hands on the screen and disappeared, making it glow sapphire.

"Seriously?" Tucker scoffed, "Church couldn't find the zoom on the sniper rifle. What makes you think he can plug in and find-"

At that moment, Epsilon reappeared, "Alright, got it. Sorry Tucker, what were you saying?"

"Don't be a showoff," Tucker scowled.

Suddenly, they heard a strange whooshing noise from outside the ship.

"What was that?" Wash gasped.

"Uh oh," Epsilon cried, "Four hostiles just popped up on radar."

"How close?" Carolina demanded.

"Not very. If we keep quiet, we should-" There was another noise outside, and Epsilon looked panicky, "Right, forget that! Okay, give me a drive, now!"

"What's happening?" Rhode demanded.

Carolina took out her storage unit and plugged into the computer, "It's in."

"Transferring data," Epsilon stated.

"Dude!" Tucker yelled.

"Yeah, uh, how do I say this?" Epsilon cleared his throat, "They know we're here and they're coming to kill us."

"Yeah, one of those days, am I right?" Caboose chuckled, "Am I right, guys? It's one of those days because, you know, it's pretty much the worst."

Tucker ran to the nearest window and looked outside.

He gasped in horror as he saw dozens of black-armored mercenaries approaching the shipwreck, all armed with powerful weapons, "How did they find us?"

"I don't know!" Carolina cried.

"How much time left on that transfer?" Rhode asked.

"Hard to say," Epsilon admitted, "This computer is beyond jacked. I'm doing what I can."

"Don't worry," Carolina reassured him, "We can wait."

"We can?" Tucker gulped.

Suddenly, he felt he was back in the Feds' facility, cornered by Locus.

"Watch your right!" Epsilon yelled.

Just then, two mercenaries switched off their cloaking devices and opened fire, driving the Blues into cover. Carolina drew out her rifle and took them out.

"Dude, we gotta go!" Tucker yelled.

"Hold them off for a few more seconds!" Epsilon insisted.

"Behind us!" Wash shouted as two more mercs ran into the passage.

Wash drew out his rifle and fired, but the mercs switched on hardlight shields which deflected the shots.

"Ah, come on!" Caboose cried, "That's just cheating!"

"Church!" Tucker yelled.

"Hold on!" Epsilon retorted.

Wash kept on firing, but the shields stayed strong as the mercs drew closer and closer. One fired a shot that would've hit Carolina, but Rhode set up his own hardlight shield and blocked it.

"Man, forget this!" Tucker decided, running to the screen.

"Wait!" Carolina called, but it was too late.

Tucker grabbed the flash drive and yanked it out, cutting the transfer short.

"Tucker!" Epsilon yelled.

"Get us out of here!" Tucker demanded.

Carolina was furious, but the mercs were almost upon them. "Ugh, darn it! Get close, guys!"

As Caboose, Rhode, and Wash hurriedly obeyed, Carolina took out the teleportation grenade and threw it on the ground, and in a flash of light, they were gone.

 **XXX**

Back in the forest hideout, Dr. Grey was just about to start cooking supper when she saw a flash of light outside. She ran out to find that the Blues had returned.

Carolina was standing upright and the others were struggling to their feet, "So, how'd it go?"

"YOU FREAKING MORON!" Epsilon bellowed, appearing before Tucker.

"Church," Carolina warned.

"Me?" Tucker yelled, "We were sitting ducks out there!"

"Tucker," Wash muttered, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"What? But- WE ALMOST HAD IT!" Epsilon bellowed, his body flashing red in anger, "We only needed a few more seconds!"

"You don't know that!" Tucker argued.

"What the- YES I DO! News flash: I was there and by the way, I'm made out of numbers! Why can't you just trust me?"

Just then, there was another flash of light and the Red Team appeared, in a rather tangled heap.

"One manifest, hot and ready to go!" Sarge called, holding up a storage unit as he got to his feet, "No need to thank us."

The Blues turned to look at him, "But don't let that discourage you if you want to."

"At least the Reds managed to bring something back. All we got was-" Epsilon broke off with a gasp, "Wait! Caboose!"

"Hey! That's me!" Suddenly Caboose was pulled back with a gasp.

At the same time, a mercenary uncloaked, pulled out a knife and brought it towards his neck, "OH MY GOD!"

Quick as a flash, Carolina switched on her speed unit and darted forward, taking out the merc with a punch. But as the merc fell, the wound on her leg tore open and with a cry of pain, she collapsed to the ground.

Wash stared at the merc in alarm, "Where the heck did he come from?"

"He must have teleported back with us," Epsilon assumed.

"Carolina!!" Rhode yelled, running to her.

"Caboose, are you okay?" Simmons asked.

Caboose was staring in stunned surprise, "My life just flashed before my eyes! It was awesome! Let's do that again!"

Carolina groaned in pain as she held her wound tight, trying to hold the bleeding back, "Ugh, my leg!"

"Outta the way!" Dr. Grey cried, pushing Rhode aside, "Doctor coming through!"

"Darn it!" Epsilon exclaimed.

Dr. Grey knelt next to Carolina and pulled off the armor on her leg, "Oh! Well, that is a lot of blood!"

Just then, the merc began to stir.

"Someone restrain this guy!" Wash ordered.

At once, Simmons and Lopez ran forward and grabbed the merc and Sarge knocked him out again with the butt of his shotgun.

"I've got just the handcuffs for the job!" Donut announced, "I've been saving them for a special occasion!"

While that whole scene occurred, Tucker just stood in complete silence, somehow feeling that everything that happened was all his fault.

 **XXX**

 **Sounds like you really screwed up Tucker. Till next time guys!**


	16. Chapter 15: Accentuate the Interrogative

**Chapter 15: Accentuate the Interrogative**

The distant rumble of thunder echoed through the forest like cannon fire. Rain was already falling, and Tucker took some comfort from the gentle pattering it made on the leaves of the tree he was sitting under.

After a while, Washington and Rhode approached him from the base.

"Well, Carolina's patched up again," Wash said, "Grey really hounded on the 'no more super speed' thing."

They sat down next to Tucker and Rhode shook his head, "You know, I don't think I've ever seen a civilian lecture a Freelancer like that before. It was... pretty entertaining actually."

"Hey, guys," Tucker said, "You got a sec?"

"I swear to God, if you want me to look at another rash, I'm gonna hit you," Rhode warned.

"No, it's just..." Tucker sighed, "It feels like every choice I make is the worst."

"Oh holy crap, you're being serious," Rhode breathed.

Tucker bowed his head, "Back at the canyon, you told me to try to be better, and ever since then, that's all people keep telling me! 'Try this', 'try that'. Well, I'm trying, and so far all that happens is that I either get people killed or I ruin the mission! I mean, how are you supposed to know if you're making the right call?"

"Well... you don't," Wash shrugged, "There's never really a right or wrong answer. You just have to stick with what you think is best."

"But what if what I think is best totally sucks?"

"Then you learn from it and you try again," Wash said.

"Oh my God," Tucker snapped, glaring at them, "It's like you people are on a freaking loop."

Wash sighed and put his hand on his teammate's shoulder, "Tucker, I know you're frustrated,but you have to realize that making mistakes is just part of the deal. Even with everything you screwed up, look at how far you made it. You're not the same person you were back at Blood Gulch."

Tucker nodded slowly, "Is it bad that I kinda wish I was?"

"Yes!" Rhode said, "You were a terrible excuse for a human being."

"Hey!" Tucker retorted.

"I'm kidding," Rhode replied.

"Screw you, dude!" Tucker yelled, getting to his feet, "I'm over here spilling my guts and stuff, and you're cracking jokes? That's messed up."

"Now who's melodramatic?" Wash chuckled.

Tucker scowled and folded his arms, "Man, I should've just left you with the Feds."

Just then, Simmons came running up to them, "Hey, Rhode, can we borrow you for a second?"

"Everything okay?" Wash asked, standing up.

"Ever since that pirate guy regained consciousness, Carolina has been trying to get info out of him... but so far, nothing is working."

"So you need help with the interrogation?" Rhode asked.

"Actually..." Simmons glanced over his shoulder, "We were hoping you could calm down Carolina."

At that moment, they heard a gunshot, followed by the shattering of glass.

Then came a scream that virtually drowned out the next thunderclap, "WHY WON'T HE TALK?!"

Simmons grimaced slightly, "As you can hear, she's a liiiiiittle frustrated."

 **XXX**

Inside the base, Carolina was still throwing a tantrum, shooting at some things and throwing several other items around, while the rest of the Blood Gulch Crew waited outside. Epsilon flashed on to try to calm her down, only to get a crate thrown through him.

So he flashed back much further away, "Well, she definitely takes on after her mother."

"Was her mother some sort of silverback gorilla on steroids?" Sarge asked.

"Yeah, you better be happy her mother is not around to hear you say that."

By then, Simmons had returned with Wash, Rhode, and Tucker.

"How's it going?" Rhode asked.

"Oh you know, terrible," Grif replied.

Tucker took off his helmet to shake the raindrops off it, "You still got the manifest?"

"Yes actually, no thanks to you," Epsilon retorted, "The Reds did manage to bring back a completely intact drive with the ship's records and manifest."

"Yeah, you know, suck it, Blue," Simmons put in.

"And due to the Reds, those documents are currently locked," Epsilon concluded.

"Oh... wait, yeah," Simmons realized.

"What?" Wash cried.

"Yes, apparently they accessed the ship's records the last time they were on board," Epsilon explained, "But since they didn't have the proper clearance, the files are now in security lockdown."

"Aren't you part of the Matrix now?" Tucker recalled, "Why don't you just hack it?"

"Oh, why don't I just hack it?" Epsilon echoed sarcastically, "Oh, while I'm at it, why don't I just download the mainframe and cross-reference the database, huh? Don't talk to me about technical stuff. This is hard, okay? It's just making me a little..."

"Frustrated?" Donut put in helpfully.

"I was gonna say completely filled with rage, but yeah, frustrated."

"Talking about me?" Carolina asked, coming out of the base.

"Actually, no," Epsilon replied.

"I don't get it," Carolina sighed, "He's not giving up anything."

Just then, Dr. Grey joined them, "Excuse me, I've been washing your blood off my armor so I'm a little late to the conversation. Did you say the prisoner is awake?"

"For now," Grif replied, "But I've got five bucks that says Carolina rips his spine out within the hour."

"I'll take those odds," Simmons stated.

"I see." Dr. Grey turned to Carolina, "If you don't mind, do you think I could have a few minutes alone with him?"

"Ha, you gonna give him a band-aid for every beating he gets?" Sarge laughed.

"Well, if you recall, he and his partners turned every one of my friends at Outpost 37 into little piles of ash," Dr. Grey gave a very wry smile, "Anyone sick enough to do something like that would almost certainly benefit from a uh... check-up."

Rhode and Carolina swapped confused looks, uncertain about what Dr. Grey was thinking.

 **XXX**

A few minutes later, Dr. Grey came into the room where the prisoner was being held. Already she could see how much effort Carolina had put into her interrogation. The pirate's helmet lay in one corner, its visor completely shattered. His face sported large bruises on the cheeks, his nose was bleeding and his hands were cuffed to the table, but he still had the look of complete defiance.

"Ooh, what's the matter?" he gloated when he saw Dr. Grey, "Did the big bad Freelancer get all tuckered out?"

Dr. Grey didn't answer right away, but she slowly made her way to a desk behind the pirate, "Do you know where you are?"

The pirate looked puzzled, "Huh?"

"This is a remote research facility designed to study the surrounding wildlife. I volunteered at one just like it at grad school. It's got a laboratory, an incinerator, and oodles of state-of-the-art surgical equipment," As she spoke, she picked up a small laser and turned to face the pirate, "Would you like to see them?"

As lightning flashed outside the base and more thunder rumbled, suddenly the pirate no longer looked confident.

 **XXX**

Outside the base, the Reds and Blues couldn't hear anything at first. Then there was the sound of a drill being run, followed by a terrified scream.

"OH GOD NOOOOOO! MAKE IT STOP!"

Dr. Grey was also singing some opera songs, but the pirate's agonized screams completely drowned out the words.

As more equipment rang out, and the pirate screamed even louder, the Blood Gulch Crew suddenly looked utterly horrified. Caboose and Donut even wet themselves.

"Sarge, I'm scared," Simmons whimpered.

"Simmons, we're all scared," Sarge replied, "Except for me."

"Ummm..." Rhode murmured, truly terrified, "I need a hand to hold."

"No," Carolina said plainly.

"Eh, worth a shot," Rhode shrugged before realizing what he just said.

He looked up and blushed, "Man, I need to stop talking to Tucker."

At last, the screams stopped and so did the equipment.

Then Dr. Grey came out of the base, her armor stained with blood again, "His name is Zachary Miller, he's ex-military, and he was kind enough to hand over the coordinates to a nearby radio jamming tower."

Carolina's jaw dropped, "You're kidding."

"No silly, I'm Doctor Grey! Ha, dad joke!"

"Alright," Carolina said, "Think he's in a position to answer a few more questions?"

"Oh absolutely! Lemme just go put him back together," With that, Dr. Grey ran back into the base.

Tucker gulped loudly, "Caboose."

"Yes," Caboose replied.

"Don't ever stick it in crazy."

"I have no idea what that means."

"I know."

 **XXX**

Once Dr. Grey had fixed up Zachary, Carolina, Rhode, and Wash came into the lab to begin their interrogation. The pirate was stripped of his armor and his undersuit, but Dr. Grey had given him some old fatigues so he wasn't left completely nude. His body now showed a variety of scars everywhere, from his head down to his legs.

"You'll find his belongings on the crate over there and that his tone is much more positive," Dr. Grey's voice dropped to a menacing tone as she turned to the pirate, "Isn't that right, Zachary?"

"For the love of God, get the psychopath away from me!" Zachary yelped, physically backing away from her.

"He's all yours," Dr. Grey chuckled, before leaving the room.

"Hey Carolina," Epsilon spoke up, "I'm gonna go dark for a little bit, focus on this manifest. You got this?"

"Yeah," As soon as Epsilon disappeared, Carolina turned her full attention on Zachary, "The radio jammers. Talk."

"I already told your friend about the nearest one, okay?" Zachary stammered.

"I want to know about all of them."

"I don't know all of them, I swear! Look, if you take out the jammer at the coast, you'll at least be able to make contact with the capital. That helps, right? Now will you let me go?"

Rhode stepped forward and grabbed the pirate by his lapels, "Listen, Zachary, there seems to be a misunderstanding. Your options are either A, staying here forever; or B, the incinerator directly behind you."

Zachary glanced at the incinerator for a moment, "Ah ha ha, uh good point. Well, what else do you want?"

"The giant tower at Crash Site Alpha," Carolina replied, "What is it doing?"

"What, you mean the tractor beams? That's why your ships crashed here in the first place. They're some of the only alien relics we've managed to activate. Ships come by, we pull them down and then kill everyone on board. After that, the mercs sell the supplies to the armies," Zachary then turned to Wash and Rhode, "Would have worked on you too, but something went wrong. It was like the ship tried to jump into slip-space, change course and power down all at the same time. It didn't make any sense. Instead of pulling you down, the ship got ripped apart."

Wash coughed nervously, "I'm gonna go ahead and claim partial responsibility for that."

"When the ship was split in two, we thought there was a fluke in the beam," Zachary continued, "But then we grabbed another ship and it came down just fine.

"How many of you are there in Chorus?"

Zachary chuckled with confidence, "Enough to get the job done."

"Give me numbers," Carolina growled. "Or I give you back to the doctor."

"Whoa, let's not get hasty," Zachary replied in a high-pitched voice, "Ah, there's a few dozen of us, alright?"

Rhode's eyebrows flew up, "A few dozen?"

"Quality over quantity," Zachary replied, "You Freelancers should know something about that. I worked for the mercs on another job a long time ago. Guess I did good 'cause they came back, and they had the offer of a lifetime."

"Wiping out an entire planet?"

Zachary lifted up one hand, "You call it genocide..."

He then lifted up the other hand, "I call it one heck of a paycheck."

"And who exactly is paying for all of this?" Carolina demanded.

"Beats me," Zachary admitted, "The client sends us supplies and scientists to run the weapons manufacturing, but Locus and Felix are the only ones that talk to them. We'll get the occasional direct order if things are getting dicey, but other than that, we're kept in the dark."

His voice then took on a sinister tone, "I can tell you this though; whoever it is has invested a lot of time and a lot of money into this project. If you think they're just gonna sit back and let you throw it all away, then you've got another thing comi-AARRGGH!"

Suddenly, Zachary was thrown backwards as a plasma bolt struck him in the chest. As he hit the ground, his body was incinerated into a pile of ash.

"Crap!" Carolina cried, spinning around.

Another bolt of lightning lit up the sky, revealing the merc sniper standing on a boulder outside the base. Immediately, Wash, Rhode, and Carolina opened fire, taking out the pirate.

"Again?" Wash yelled.

"Epsilon!" Carolina shouted.

"I'm here," Epsilon replied, reappearing on Carolina's shoulder, "Uh, there's three more closing in on the guys."

Quickly, Rhode got on his radio, "Tucker, Sarge, more pirates incoming."

"What?" Sarge gasped, "Men, battle stations!"

"Get to the lab as soon as you can. We can hold them off from here."

"Got it!" Tucker replied.

"We've got more hostiles incoming!" Epsilon called out.

"What?" Carolina cried.

Just then the door slid open and the Reds and Blues came charging into the lab, closely followed by Dr. Grey.

"What the heck's going on?" Tucker cried.

"We're being surrounded!" Epsilon replied.

"How do they keep finding us?" Carolina snapped.

"I don't know! What is it, is there an informant? A tracking device?"

Suddenly Wash remembered something that Locus had given him when he first met the Feds, and the words they'd exchanged.

 **XXX**

 _"Is this supposed to be some sort of apology?"_

 _"Is it?"_

 **XXX**

His eyes then turned towards the group and when he found what he was looking for, his heart sank right down into his boots.

"Oh no..."

He then spotted two teleporter grenades next to Zachary's armor and quickly snatched them up.

"Everyone get ready!" Epsilon yelled.

Sarge quickly ran to the door and drew out his shotgun, "Today is a good day to-"

Suddenly, there was a flash of light brighter than the lightning, and the Blood Gulch Crew disappeared.

 **XXX**

Several miles away, in the middle of the desert, there was another flash of light and the Reds and Blues reappeared, falling back into a tangled heap.

"-Sit down for a minute and just have a rest," Sarge groaned, falling backwards into the sand, "'Cause I think I'm gonna throw up."

Rubbing his head, Simmons looked up and spotted a familiar building nearby, "Ugh, we're back at the gas station."

"Good!" Donut groaned, "I think I need a bathroom."

"I would not recommend it," Grif warned.

"How did we get here?" Rhode moaned, coughing.

Carolina shook her head and turned to Wash, "What's going on? Why did you teleport us?"

In response, Wash turned and pointed towards Caboose, "It's Freckles. Freckles is the tracking device."

 **XXX**

 **Poor Caboose... He just got his Assistant Best Friend back... Till next time guys!**


	17. Chapter 16: Out of the Frying Pan

**Chapter 16: Out of the Frying Pan**

 **ARMONIA, CAPITAL CITY OF CHORUS**

The tension in the city was so thick that you could cut it with a combat knife. The Federal Army of Chorus, already disheartened by the loss of the Reds and Blues, were now preparing themselves for the inevitable moment when the New Republic would make the final push into the city.

In his office, General Doyle was equally nervous. But he had to be strong for his men, to give them hope in their darkest hour.

With that in mind, he cleared his throat and turned on the intercom, "Men, may I have your attention please?"

 **XXX**

At the New Republic Headquarters, the soldiers there were also nervous. They knew that this would soon be the moment that they would storm the city of Armonia and take the planet for themselves once and for all.

In her office, Kimball, reassured by Felix's words, was now ready to give her team the support they needed in their bleakest moment.

So she switched on her intercom, "Alright everyone, listen up. Today's the day."

 **XXX**

Doyle lifted his chin up, his speech giving him strength, "Today is the day we defend this once great city from those who wish to take it for themselves."

 **XXX**

"You all know your roles," Kimball announced, her heart lifting as she spoke, "Squads will split up and surround the capital, then we sneak in and hit them from all sides."

 **XXX**

All around the city, the Feds looked towards the speakers, feeling reassured by their General's speech, "Once the enemy has entered the city, the exits will be sealed and any hope of retreat will be dashed."

 **XXX**

All around the New Republic Headquarters, the young rebels gathered before the main building, listening to their leader's words with great expectations, "I won't lie to you, today may be one of the worst days of your life. And for many of us, it's going to be the last. But we can't give up. We've come too far and lost too much to throw this all away."

 **XXX**

"The New Republic believes they can end this war today, and they are correct," Doyle's voice took on a determined tone, "What they fail to realize is that the Federal Army of Chorus shall be the one standing victorious after the smoke is clear."

 **XXX**

Kimball's face became serious as she spoke. "So remember the plan..."

 **XXX**

"Remember your training. And most of all..."

 **XXX**

"Remember what you're fighting for!"

The gathered rebels gave a hearty cheer and set off to their duties. Soon, only the squad members remained.

"Yeah, we're totally dead," Bitters sighed just before Smith punched him in the face, "OW!"

"Not the time," Smith growled.

Palomo and Jensen just swapped nervous glances, fearful that everything wasn't going to end well for any of them.

 **XXX**

As Doyle finished his speech, the Federal Army cheered and set off into the city to prepare the defenses.

Up in his office, Doyle turned off the intercom and sat back with a heavy sigh.

"Well said," came a deep voice behind him.

Doyle gasped and spun around, only to find Locus standing in the doorway, "Oh my, Locus, yes. Oh dear God man, you nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Sir, I have some rather urgent news," Locus said.

"Right," Doyle replied, clearing his throat, "Well, spit it out, then."

"I have been informed that the New Republic has dispatched the mercenary to scout ahead for their forces."

"My word, first the news of their invasion, and now this?" Doyle chuckled, "Heh, you are just a wealth of information, aren't you?"

"I'm leaving to track them down," Locus informed him, turning to leave.

"Oh yes, yes," Suddenly Doyle jumped to his feet, "Wait, no, no, no!"

He caught up to Locus and grabbed his arm, holding him back, "Y-y-you can't just leave! What about the, ah, the impending battle? I need you here, by my side to, uh, boost the morale of the troops."

"Don't be concerned, General," Locus reassured, moving Doyle's hand off his shoulder, "Once I've taken care of this issue, I'll return to take care of you."

With that, he turned and left the office.

"Oh right," Doyle muttered, "Uh, yes. Yes, excellent thinking, Locus. I can always count on you to get the job done!"

Locus didn't reply, but simply gave a sinister grin, knowing that his time with that gullible fool was soon drawing to its deadly conclusion...

 **XXX**

Meanwhile, at the desert gas station in between the two armies, the Reds and Blues were currently facing a tricky situation.

Caboose looked down at Freckles' storage unit in his hands, now glowing blue as Epsilon did his work inside it.

"Give it to me straight, Church," Caboose whimpered, "Is Freckles gonna make it?"

"Your robot's fine," Epsilon reassured, "I just need a few more- Ah, there we go!"

He then appeared before Caboose, "Alright, Caboose, your pet has been debugged."

"Oh good," Caboose sighed in relief, petting the storage unit, "Now all we have to do is get him fixed."

With that disaster out the way, Carolina rounded on Washington, "I can't believe you would just accept something from the enemy like that!"

"It was a lapse in judgment," Wash admitted sheepishly, "It won't happen again."

"Yeah, because next time we'll be dead!" Epsilon snapped, "Come on, Wash. You're supposed to be the smart one on the group."

"I'm just going to ignore that," Rhode glared.

"I thought I was the smart one in the group," Simmons cut in.

"Eh, smart's relative, like good looks are skills," Grif replied with a shrug, "Sometimes you have to settle."

"Would you guys all shut up!" Tucker yelled, "This isn't helping!"

"Oh yeah right," Epsilon scoffed, "Since when have you managed to help around here?"

"Hey, maybe you haven't noticed," Tucker retorted, "But I've kinda been running this stuff while you were gone!"

"Just out of curiosity," Rhode interrupted, "Who ran stuff when he was here?"

"Well, you ran straight into the ground, Tucker," Epsilon stated sharply, "Great job, you must be so proud."

"Okay," Dr. Grey butted in, stepping between the group, "Everyone's a liiiitle tense right now."

"Well, at least I tried," Tucker yelled, ignoring Dr. Grey.

"You?! What about me?" Epsilon shouted, "You think I've been on vacation this whole time?"

"Please, stop fighting!" Donut screamed shrilly, "Can't you see you're tearing this family apart?!"

That remark earned a very puzzled look from everyone, including Dr. Grey, who mentally put Donut first on her list of psychoanalyzing.

"Right, this is getting weird. I'm out," Epsilon decided, "Hey, if you need me, I'll be thinking of a way to keep us alive for the next 24 hours."

With that, he disappeared.

"Good riddance," Tucker snorted, slumping down on a small rock.

"Hey, I heard that!" Epsilon's voice rang out, "I'm still actually in the room, moron!"

Carolina shook her head, "I'm gonna go check the perimeter."

"I'll do the same," Wash decided, "Why don't you guys just take a breather?"

"I'm up for that," Rhode sat down.

"'Kay," Caboose replied, waving at the two former Freelancers as they set off, "Bye Wash! Bye Carolina! Bye Church!"

"Caboose, aren't you even like the tiniest bit ticked off at Church?" Tucker asked.

Caboose thought it over, "Uhhhhhh, nope!"

Tucker was surprised, "Not even a little?"

"Nah."

"At all?"

"Yeah, no. Not really."

"How?" Tucker cried, jumping to his feet, "He's being such a jerk!"

"I'm pretty sure Church has always been an jerk," Simmons pointed out.

"Yeah, isn't that kind of his thing?" Grif agreed, "Like, Simmons is smart, I'm good-looking, you guys are the dumb one..."

He pointed to Caboose.

"The lazy one..." He pointed to Tucker.

"And the mean one," He nodded at Sarge.

"But he doesn't even care about us," Tucker said.

"I don't know about that," Sarge argued, "He stopped that mercenary from cutting up Caboose. Missed opportunity if you ask me."

"Well, he abandoned us."

"But didn't you guys do the same thing?" Donut pointed out.

Tucker's eyebrows went up, "Huh?"

"Uh, the rebels?" Grif reminded him.

"Well, yeah," Tucker murmured, rubbing the back of his neck, "But there were more important things we had to do."

"Hmm," Rhode replied, "I kinda feel like stopping the sale of illegal military equipment might have been more important than hanging out in a canyon."

"But what about when we got arrested and were being sentenced?" Tucker yelled, "Where was Church then, huh?"

"Okay, Tucker," Caboose cut in, "I'm gonna tell you this only because you respect my opinions so much."

"I actually don't listen to anything you say, ever," Tucker admitted.

"Classic lazy one," Grif agreed.

Caboose put his hands on his teammate's shoulders, "If you keep being mean to Church, Church will just keep being mean to you, and then everyone will be mean to everyone all the time and everything will be bad and no one will have fun."

"Is this...?" Tucker looked shocked. "Are you trying to give a motivational speech right now?"

"Shh," Donut hissed, "I want to see where he's going."

"So do I," Rhode said, getting up.

"I mean, come on!" Caboose cried, throwing his arms out, "Is this what you really want? You just- You just want to be angry and mean all the time! Because that is dumb. And you know what? You are dumb for thinking that!"

"Did Caboose just call someone dumb?" Grif hissed to his teammates.

"Well, that's calling the kettle blue," Sarge agreed.

"So Church left, and maybe some of us were sad!" Caboose turned to face his friends, "But you know what? That is okay, because he was just trying to do something good! And he just made a mistake. And we all make mistakes sometimes."

"Wow," Tucker breathed in amazement, "Caboose, I-"

"So shut up and get over it!" Caboose let out a breath and turned to go, "Well, my work is done here."

Tucker was silent for a moment then he sighed, "You know, I really do freaking hate him."

 **XXX**

By the entrance to the cave, Carolina kept her eyes open for any danger.

Just then, she heard a cough behind and she turned to see Tucker standing there, "Hey, Carolina. Can I, uh... you think I can talk to Church for a second?"

"Oh, um sure," Carolina replied, "Epsilon?"

No reply.

"Church, get out here. Church!"

Finally, Epsilon appeared. For a brief moment, Carolina caught a glimpse of Delta and Theta, hearing the latter whispering, "Just say you're sorry", before they disappeared.

"Can't a guy have a little privacy around-" Epsilon broke off when he spotted Tucker nearby, "Oh."

"Hey," Tucker murmured, giving a little wave.

Epsilon flashed up next to Tucker, "What do you want?"

Tucker pulled off his helmet and ran a hand through his hair, "So. I guess I've been kind of a jerk since you got back."

Epsilon was taken aback by this, "Oh. Well yeah, I mean. Sure, if you want to put it lightly!"

His chuckles tailed off when he saw Tucker looking at him, "Uh, I mean... I guess I did, you know, leave you guys without saying anything. Would at the time seemed poetic and heroic and all that, but you know, we're on practical stand point. I probably should have left a note."

"Yeah."

"I'm just not used to you actually doing stuff, you know. It's weird. Normally guys just stick around and I have to do everything."

Tucker gave a little smile, "Well, you don't have to do everything anymore."

"Yeah, well," Epsilon agreed, "I guess it just takes getting used to."

Tucker nodded, "You know, I uh, I think I saw some beer back at the gas station."

"Hologram, dude," Epsilon reminded him, "Still a hologram."

"Oh right."

"But thanks, you can have mine."

"Seriously?" Carolina cried, cutting into the tender moment, "That's it? No 'I'm sorry'? Nothing?!"

"Carolina, we're _dudes_ ," Epsilon replied.

"Yeah," Tucker agreed, "This is pretty much as emotional as we're going to get."

"Yeah, you just witnessed like an entire lifetime's worth of male emotion in one minute."

"Huh," Tucker chuckled, putting his helmet back on, "What was she expecting?"

"Beats me. Can you believe that I have to live with her?"

"Dude, that sucks."

"Tell me about it."

"Oh wait," Tucker cut in, giving a cheeky grin, "Does that mean you get to see her naked?"

"Okay, man," Epsilon laughed nervously, "Don't make it weird."

At that moment, Rhode joined them and Carolina turned to him with a puzzled look, "Soooo, are they good?"

"I think they're as good as we're going to get," Rhode replied.

"About time," Carolina sighed.

"You're tellin' me," Sarge's voice cut in.

Rhode, Carolina, Tucker, and Epsilon turned and spotted the rest of the Blood Gulch Crew gathered nearby, as well as Dr. Grey who was sniffling at that tender moment.

"Now can we get back to the whole civil war thing, please?" Simmons asked.

Suddenly, as if on cue, everyone's radio set in their helmets switched on simultaneously, sending a screech of feedback into their speakers.

"Ow!" Donut yelped, throwing his hands to the sides of his helmet, "My ears! My sensitive ears!"

Then a familiar voice spoke to them, "Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This is your captain speaking, and boy have I got some news for you."

Grif turned to glare at Simmons, "You just had to ask for it."

"It's Felix," Epsilon cried, recognizing the voice, "He's using the radios."

"Hey, moron," Rhode yelled, answering the call. "We're not interested in whatever crap you're selling!"

"Oh, but Rhode," Felix admonished in a very innocent voice, "In a miraculous, one time only deal, you've all been upgraded to first class, on a one-way flight off of Chorus! Are you interested now?"

The Reds and Blues all swapped baffled looks, unable to believe what Felix was offering.

"I would be lying if I said I wasn't a _little_ interested," Simmons admitted.

 **XXX**

 **Now to figure out what Felix is going on about... Till next time guys!**


	18. Chapter 17: Multiple Choice

**Chapter 17: Multiple Choice**

Carolina's eyes narrowed in suspicion as she turned on her radio, "What exactly are you playing at?"

"Ho-ho-okay, easy there, darling," Felix chuckled, "I know this is all very exciting, so I'm gonna hand the mic over to my partner here to tell you the details."

"It's time you understood the futility of your situation," Locus then said, his voice sending shivers down the spines of each Red and Blue, "We know where you're hiding. We know you are in possession of a single teleportation grenade. And we know that you hold the coordinates to a particularly valuable radio jammer, Station 1C, which is why my partner and I are contacting you from its location. Make no mistake, you will not be interfering with today's events."

"Says you!" Tucker snapped, "We're the champs of interfering with stuff!"

"As we speak, the armies of Chorus are converging at the capital," Locus continued, "And the battle that ensues will leave no survivors. If your goal was to save these people... you have failed."

The Reds and Blues swapped helpless looks, "But you now have the opportunity to save yourselves."

"What do you mean?" Washington asked.

"Once the chumps at the capital are all dead, you guys will be the only loose ends left," As Felix spoke, Dr. Grey lowered her head sadly and Donut gave her a comforting pat on her shoulder, "Now, seeing as you disabled our tracking device and have the means to teleport anywhere in the world, this poses a somewhat... annoying problem."

"Which is why Control has offered to make a deal," Locus said.

Carolina's eyebrows flew up, "Control?"

"If you choose to teleport back to your canyon, at Crash Site Bravo, you'll find a small ship waiting to take you home," Locus's voice took on a sinister tone, "But if you fail to arrive within the hour, we will find you... and we will kill you."

"I'm gonna go ahead and call bullcrap on that," Grif decided.

"Yeah," Simmons agreed, "Why should we believe anything you say?"

"See for yourselves," Locus chuckled.

Suddenly, they heard a loud rumbling noise from quite close by. Quickly, the Reds and Blues ran out the fuel station and stopped by the edge of a cliff... where they saw, rising up into the air, a massive transport spaceship.

Lopez gave a long whistle, "(Okay. I believe them.)"

"You're right, Lopez!" Donut cried. "That is the ship that dropped us off."

"(STOP PRETENDING THAT YOU UNDERSTAND ME!!!)" Lopez yelled.

"It's fully functional and en route to the canyon right now," Locus said.

As the ship took off from the station, Wash gave a suspicious look, "So you got a ship. How are we supposed to know you won't shoot us the second we arrive?"

"Well, you can't," Felix admitted, "But if it makes you feel any better, this wasn't our idea. Trust me, I'm really hoping you're dumb enough to turn this offer down."

"Our client is a person of business," Locus explained, "They understand if you want no part in this conflict. And they're willing to let you live if you agree never to speak of our involvement here."

"And trust us," Felix added, "They'll know if you do."

"Agent Washington, I've been ordered to offer you and your men a way out, and I never break an order," Locus reassured, "You have one hour to make your decision."

"Hope you make the right one," Felix finished.

As the radio call ended, Wash turned to the other Reds and Blues with great uncertainty.

 **XXX**

 **ARMONIA - CAPITAL CITY OF CHORUS**

The tension in the air was so thick that you could cut it with a combat knife. Outside the city, several Warthogs pulled up by the many gates, except for one at the back that crashed into the wall.

"Thorry!" Jensen cried, turning off the ignition.

"It's all good," Palomo reassured, rubbing the back of his neck, "Just severe whiplash."

"So how is it you can fix cars when you can't even drive them?" Bitters scowled.

"I'm sorry, _Antoine_ ," Jensen retorted sharply, "I couldn't hear you over the sound of your perpetual poor attitude!"

"Ohhhhh, got him!" Palomo crowed, "Dropping that first name stuff!"

"God, I hope you die before me," Bitters groaned.

"Cut the chatter," Smith cut in before contacting the other squads on his radio, "Entry point seven secure. No hostiles detected, over."

"Roger that, Smith," replied another squad leader, "Moving up."

Behind them, a third squad came charging into the city, "Come on, guys! Let's go!"

"Oh hey!" Palomo cried out, "I just realized, this is our first mission together."

"Huh?" Jensen asked.

"As a super elite team, remember?"

"Yeah," Bitters muttered crossly, "Some team we turned out to be."

"Yeah, we're like the Avengers," Palomo declared, "Okay, Smith can be Captain America, Jensen's Black Widow-"

"Who are you?" Jensen asked.

"Uhh, Tony Stark, obviously."

"Oh whatever," Bitters sighed, "You're totally Hawkeye."

"Comic Book Hawkeye or movie Hawkeye?"

"Movie Hawkeye."

"You go die!" Palomo snapped.

"Hey!" Smith yelled, pushing his teammates apart, "Palomo's right. The captains chose us for a reason, and none of us are going to let them down. Now, let's move out."

 **XXX**

As the squads made their separate ways through the city, none of them noticed that on a balcony overlooking the streets, a team of space pirates, led by Jackson, were preparing themselves for the slaughter.

"Keep interference to a minimum," Jackson informed his team, "Let them kill each other and only target those who try to escape."

"This is going to be too easy," one pirate chuckled as they set off along the rooftops.

 **XXX**

Unaware of the approaching battle on Armonia, the Reds and Blues gathered at the gas station to make their final decision.

"Alright," Epsilon said, "The way I see it, we got three options; I'm gonna go through these in the order of 'freaking terrible' to 'worst nightmare'. Option A: We take our last teleportation grenade and jump to a place on Chorus where we can lay low for a while. The obvious con here is that the armies will probably blow each other to bits. But Carolina and I have gotten pretty good about fighting these guys on the run. If we're careful, we might be able to gather enough equipment and intel to get off this planet and bring Control to justice."

Simmons swapped a nervous look with Grif and Sarge, "Just to clarify, that's the best option?"

"That was 'freaking terrible'," Epsilon answered.

"We lose Chorus, but still have a chance to bring down Control and walk away from this alive," Carolina agreed, "That gives us two out of three."

"What's Option B?" Grif asked.

"Fine," Epsilon replied, "If - and let me tell ya, I cannot stretch this 'if' enough - if Locus and Felix are telling the truth, we go back to the canyon, get on the ship and go home. If anybody asks, we tell them we stole the ride before all the crazy army people showed up and started murdering each other."

"Hmm, gotta be honest," Sarge stated, "I'm not the biggest fan of the 'if', and the thousands of deaths aren't great either."

"What about option C?" Tucker asked.

"We teleport to the radio jammer," Epsilon said, "If we take out their defenses and shut down the machine, and if we're not too late, then we can broadcast a message to the capital."

"Oh, well that one doesn't sound too bad," Donut said.

"Weeellll, here's the thing," Epsilon said slowly, "I've been running Carolina's healing unit whenever I can, but her leg is still garbage. Combine that with the fact that these guys have Freelancer equipment and advanced weaponry-"

"We get it," Carolina interrupted, "Some of us won't make it back."

"Ummm, most of us won't make it back."

"But we could save everyone at the capital," Tucker pointed out.

"Yeah, if, if, we make it back in time," Epsilon added, "Then you just need to find a way to convince two armies that a bunch of dead people are actually alive and telling the truth."

"There's a fourth option," Wash then spoke up, "Carolina, Rhode, and I go on the run with Epsilon and do our best to bring down Control. And the rest of you take the ship and go home."

"That's... actually not a bad idea," Epsilon conceded.

"The three of us would be able to move around the planet easier without the extra baggage," Carolina agreed, "Uh, no offense, guys."

"No, baggage is right," Grif replied, "We're comfortable with who we are."

"But we can't just leave," Donut cried.

"Yes you can," Dr. Grey cut in, "This isn't your responsibility. You all held up your end of the bargain. You helped us fight, you saved your friends. So now, all that's left is for you to go home."

The Blood Gulch Crew all felt sad at Dr. Grey's defeatist attitude, but at the same time, they each knew that none of them would stand much chance in taking down Locus, Felix and however many other pirates would be waiting for them at the radio jammer.

Tucker sighed and placed a hand on his cheek, racking his brains to decide on an option.

But then he suddenly looked up and turned to the others with a smile, "Guys... I know what to do..."

 **XXX**

Deep in the central business district of Armonia, Kimball and her team drove through the streets on their Warthogs, keeping their eyes open for danger.

"Something's not right..." Kimball switched on her radio, "Squad leaders in the downtown areas, report in."

"Still no enemies in sight, ma'am," Smith replied.

"Yeah, we got nothin' over here," said another squad leader.

"Ma'am, you don't think Felix had bad intel, do you?" asked one soldier on Kimball's team.

"Anything's possible. Just stay alert," Kimball glanced over her shoulder, "He should've been back by now."

Suddenly, they heard a loud grating noise behind them.

"What was that?" one soldier cried.

"Oh crap!" another soldier yelled, "The city's roadblocks just locked up!"

"What?!" Kimball turned round in her seat, only to discover that the road they'd just driven down was sealed shut by a heavily armored door.

"Same thing just happened in our sector!" yelled one of the other squad leaders.

"Freeze!" came a new voice over Kimball's radio.

All over the city, the squads were suddenly surrounded by members of the Federal Army switching off their cloaking devices, and each squad leader said the exact same thing: "Uh oh."

 **XXX**

In one alleyway of the city, the young recruits were cornered by two teams of Feds on either side.

"Uh oh," Smith gulped.

 **XXX**

"Don't say it," Kimball warned over the radio.

 **XXX**

Smith didn't say anything, but it was Palomo that broke, "It's a trap!"

 **XXX**

In her sector, Kimball turned to her men, "Get us out of here!"

The soldiers all turned to run, but found their exits blocked by Feds appearing in every intersection, alleyway and open doorway.

"Well, well, well," came a stern British voice above them.

Kimball whirled round just as another Fed soldier with gold trim on his armor appeared on a platform just above them, "General Donald Doyle, leader of the Federal Army."

"Vanessa Kimball, leader of the New Republic," Doyle gave a superior smile as his men took aim, "Welcome to the capital."

 **XXX**

 **And next we have the epic battle of epic proportions! Till next time guys!**


	19. Chapter 18: Fed vs New

**Chapter 18: Fed vs. New**

 **RADIO JAMMER 1C**

As the sky began to darken with thunderclouds and lightning flashed from the heavens to strike the surface of the sea, Felix looked down at the time screen in his visor, "Time's almost up."

With a nod, Locus turned on his radio, contacting the team he'd left at Crash Site Bravo to guard the ship, "Bravo, report."

"No visual on the targets," the team leader replied, "I... don't think they're coming."

"Hmm..." Locus frowned, "Stay on guard."

"Guess they didn't trust us." Felix then noticed something out of the corner of his eye, "Locus... how many men did you bring with you?"

"Four," Locus replied, "The rest were needed at the capital."

Felix's eyes narrowed as he turned to look at the fifth soldier disappearing into the shadows, "You don't say..."

 **XXX**

Keeping close to the shadows so her blackened armor would blend in, Carolina paused at the base of one of the tower's columns, giving the sitrep to Rhode over her radio, "Four pirates carrying prototypes. The mercs are sticking to their usual. I'm heading away from the jamming tower now."

"Did they see you?" Rhode asked.

But before Carolina could reply, she heard a familiar voice calling to her, "Excuse me!"

Carolina turned round to see Felix standing on top of the column, aiming his rifle at her.

"You look familiar," Felix taunted, "Have we met?"

Without waiting for an answer, Felix fired a shot that glanced off the side of Carolina's leg, disrupting her camouflage unit which changed her armor from black to blue.

"Oh-ho-ho man!" Felix laughed, "You are fast! But minus points on originality."

Quickly Carolina raised her rifle and fired, but Felix activated his hardlight shield and deflected the shots. Then from out of nowhere, the other pirates appeared next to him and aimed their guns at her.

"See what I mean?" Felix chuckled.

Realizing that she was hopelessly outnumbered, Carolina threw her gun aside and raised her hands, "All right. You have me."

Felix nodded, "So... where's the rest of the crew?"

"They're not here," Carolina replied, "I came alone."

"Well, that is classic you from what I've heard," Felix conceded, "But seeing as how they weren't at the gas station or the ship we so generously provided, I'm not sure I believe you."

Carolina gave a derisive sneer, "Well, I guess that's your problem."

"Actually," Felix corrected, raising his gun again, "if you don't tell your friends to come out and surrender, you're going to have a problem the size of a golf ball in the middle of your forehead."

Just then, Felix felt a pistol on the back of his neck then he heard a voice right next to his ear, "Funny... I was just about to tell you the same thing."

Felix turned round and saw Rhode standing right next to him, "Oh hey, Rhode. Heads up, you're going to feel like a real moron in three... two... aannnnddd..."

Suddenly, Rhode heard a loud clicking next to his head and he whirled round just as Locus decloaked behind him, pointing his rifle at him.

"You Freelancers continue to both surprise and disappoint me, Agent Rhode Island," Locus growled gently.

"Yeah, yeah, there it is," Felix gloated.

 **XXX**

 **ARMONIA**

Despite being surrounded on all sides, Kimball kept her cool as she and her men faced up to General Doyle and his army.

"Never in all my life have I met a human being as selfish and bloodthirsty as you, Miss Kimball!" Doyle yelled.

"How dare you!" Kimball snapped.

"Marching into the capital, thinking you could kick us while we're down," Doyle tutted condescendingly, "Have you no decency?"

"We tried to be decent in the past," Kimball retorted, "But we all know how that turned out, don't we?"

Doyle gave a mocking laugh, "Oh my dear girl, I can assure you I haven't the slightest idea what you mean."

"Of course not!" Kimball shouted, "You're still too busy trying to uphold a government that doesn't even exist anymore."

"Because you killed everyone who stood for it!"

"It was a broken, freaking bureaucracy that nearly killed the planet!"

"And you are a ruthless bunch of anarchists who killed the only outsiders brave enough to try and save it!"

"I would-" Kimball paused mid-rant at the General's words, "Wait, what did you say?"

 **XXX**

On a nearby ledge, Jackson frowned as he heard the argument.

"This might be a problem," he told his men, before they cloaked.

 **XXX**

With Rhode and Carolina now surrounded by Locus and the other pirates, Felix glanced all around him for any sign of movement.

"All right, guys, come out and I promise to kill you quick!" he yelled into the air, "Waste my time, and you get to watch the Freelancers die over the course of... uh, well, until whenever I get bored!"

He waited for a response, but none came so he turned to the pirates, "Spread out and find them. They might be hiding in one of the caves-"

Suddenly they heard the sound of gunfire coming from a nearby cave.

"Caboose!" Tucker's voice rang out.

"I didn't do it!" Caboose yelped.

Felix gave a sinister smirk, "Or maybe they'll just telegraph their position because they're idiots."

"You two, go find the source of that gunfire," Locus ordered his men, "Shoot on sight."

The pirates nodded and set off towards the cave.

 **XXX**

"Tell me," Doyle growled, his voice taking on a very angry tone, "When you murdered the Reds and Blues, was it because you couldn't stand the thought of them siding with us, or were they merely caught up in the decimation of our outpost?!"

"What are you talking about?" Kimball yelled, "We didn't decimate anything! You killed the Reds and Blues after they rescued their friends!"

"We did no such thing!" Doyle spluttered.

Kimball was shocked at the response, "But... Felix said-"

Suddenly a shot rang out and one of Kimball's men fell. Doyle turned to his men at once, but none of them had fired their guns.

 **XXX**

The two pirates soon came across the cave and they quickly paused outside the entrance.

"It came from in there," one pirate said.

"Right," her ally said, "Move in on three... two... one!"

They turned on their cloaking devices and ran into the cave, weapons drawn...

 **XXX**

Felix shook his head as he looked down on the Freelancers, "You know, I just gotta ask. What did you think seven morons, a couple of Freelancers and an AI would actually be able to do here?"

"Well, not much..." Rhode then gave a cheeky grin, "But you forgot to count the genius, and the dog."

Locus looked baffled, "The dog?"

 **XXX**

The pirates swapped puzzled looks. The cave was completely empty, except for a large crate on top of which lay an old assault rifle. Keeping their cloaks on, they slowly approached the crate.

Just them, the rifle's flashlight switched on and a loud tinny voice boomed out from the gun, "HEAT SIGNATURES DETECTED."

The female pirate was shocked, "D-did that gun just talk?"

"FIRING MAIN CANNON," At once, the gun opened fire and the second pirate went down.

 **XXX**

The other pirates whirled round at this new gunfire, and Felix was flabbergasted, "What the...?"

Carolina quickly turned on her radio, "Now!"

 **XXX**

Back at the capital, Doyle quickly ducked behind his men, "Attack!"

"Open fire!" Kimball ordered her men.

 **XXX**

And in that instant, the city of Armonia turned into a battlefield.

 **XXX**

In the alleyway, Jensen turned to the others, "Duck!"

Quickly, the squad members dived to the floor, just as the Feds surrounding them fired, killing each other in the crossfire.

 **XXX**

All around the city streets, the Federal Army and the New Republic fought, slaughtering dozens of the opposing forces.

 **XXX**

Kimball quickly led her team to the nearest cover, while Doyle chose this moment to sneak away.

 **XXX**

At Jammer 1C, Locus and Felix opened fire, but Rhode and Carolina quickly dived out of the way. Locus pounced off the platform towards Carolina, who jumped out of the way before he landed. Leaping to her feet, she swung out one leg in a roundhouse kick, which Locus ducked before grabbing Carolina's arms and grappling with her.

Meanwhile, Rhode ran along the walkway, avoiding Felix's shots, before raising his rifle and firing a few rounds, disarming the merc. With a sneer, Felix leapt off and rolled into cover, while Rhode ducked behind the column.

 **XXX**

At the cave, the female pirate ran out in panic, "Man down! Man- OOFF!"

She was taken out from behind.

"Hi-ya!" Tucker cried, stepping out of cover, "Take that!"

 **XXX**

Inside the cave, Caboose stood up from behind the crate.

"Yes!" he cheered, petting his gun fondly, "Good one, Freckles."

"THANK YOU, CAPTAIN CABOOSE," Freckles replied.

Tucker then turned on his radio, getting in touch with the Reds, "Alright, guys. Two down, two to go!"

 **XXX**

By a rock formation just behind the other two pirates, Sarge received the news, "Roger that!"

With that, he ran out of cover, "Come and get us, boys!"

At once, the two pirates opened fire, driving Sarge back.

"Whoa!" he yelped before turning to Grif, Simmons, and Dr. Grey, "Now might be a good time to run."

 **XXX**

Back at the main tower, Locus and Carolina continued to brawl, but Locus quickly gained the upper hand, blocking Carolina's punches before grabbing her, lifting her over his head and slamming her onto her back then he lifted his leg up to stamp on her. But then Rhode fired a burst at Locus, distracting the merc and allowing Carolina to swing her leg up, kicking him off the platform and onto some pipes where he slid to the bottom while Carolina jumped down after him.

Rhode then turned to Felix and opened fire, but Felix raised his hardlight shield, deflecting the shots, before he charged forward. Rhode quickly stepped aside and drew out his pistol while Felix whipped out his knife, ducking past Rhode shots before swinging out at him.

Rhode was quick to deflect Felix's attacks and raised his pistol again... only to find a sticky grenade stuck to the side, "Oh, come on!"

Felix just laughed and gave a mocking salute.

"Fire in the hole!" Rhode yelled, throwing his pistol towards Carolina.

Quickly, Carolina kicked the weapon towards Locus, who ducked aside moments before it exploded.

"Sorry!" Rhode called down.

But while he was distracted, Felix raised his hardlight shield and charged in again, knocking Rhode off the platform before jumping down after him.

 **XXX**

Back at Armonia, the squad members had escaped the alleyway and found some cover behind an abandoned metro bus, but were now pinned down by a pair of Feds carrying chainguns.

"Take out those gunmen!" Smith ordered.

Bitters jumped out of cover, raised his sniper rifle and fired a shot, which went right between the gunners.

"Missed!" Palomo yelled.

Bitters scowled at him before firing again.

"Missed!" Palomo cried, before they were driven back by the gunmen.

"Palomo!" Bitters snapped, but as he turned to his squad mate, he suddenly spotted movement.

Acting quickly, he raised his gun and fired, startling Palomo who turned round just as the Fed's cloaking device failed and the body hit the ground.

"Okay, nice shot," Palomo muttered.

 **XXX**

Back at the radio jammer, one of the remaining pirates wandered around the plain, trying to find the Reds, "Where are you?"

Just then Simmons popped out from behind a rock, "Hey, suck it, black!"

"What?" the pirate cried, whirling around.

"Uh, just to clarify that wasn't a race thing!" Simmons added, ducking back behind the rock.

"Come back here!" the pirate yelled, running after Simmons.

"Get him!"

At that moment, Sarge charged out and jumped on the pirate, but he barely shifted. Then Grif pounced on them both, bringing the pirate down. Simmons leapt into the fray too.

Dr. Grey stood back and gave them advice, "Get him in the jugular!"

The pirate lashed out, cuffing Grif in the chin, "Ow!"

"The jugular!" Dr. Grey repeated.

Grif threw out a punch which the pirate blocked before hitting him again, "Ow!"

"Punch him in the stupid throat!" Dr. Grey yelled, stamping her foot.

Simmons quickly slammed his fist into the pirate's throat, making him collapse with a choking cry.

"Well, why didn't you just say so?!" Grif snapped, while Sarge just chuckled.

 **XXX**

On the other side, the last pirate standing was patrolling the perimeter, trying to contact his teammates, "Does anyone copy? Come on, what the heck is happening up there?"

Just then, Donut and Lopez ran out of cover, weapons drawn.

"Stick 'em up!" Donut yelled.

The pirate whirled around and fired at them. Donut dived back into cover, but Lopez was caught in the crossfire, his head blown completely off.

"(Crap!)" Lopez cried as his body crashed down next to his head.

"Lopez! Noooooo!" Donut squealed.

"(You've got to be kidding me!)" Lopez snapped... but then he felt his leg moving, "(Oh... wait a minute.)"

Unaware of this, the pirate ran up to Donut and raised his gun. Donut closed his eyes with a whimper, waiting for the end... but then Lopez's body stood behind the pirate and tapped him on the shoulder. As the pirate turned, he received a powerful punch in the face and fell to the ground.

Donut opened his eyes and stared in amazement, "Lopez!"

"(Well...)" Lopez knelt down, picked up his head and screwed it back onto his neck, "(That worked out better than expected.)"

 **XXX**

At the base of the tower, Carolina quickly snatched up Locus's SAW and opened fire.

Locus ducked aside and turned to his teammate, "Felix!"

At once, Felix pushed Rhode aside and raised his shield, deflecting the bullets.

Putting the SAW away, Carolina charged in and jumped forward in a flying kick, only to get thrown back by Felix's shield. She landed on a boulder and launched herself forward, but Locus dived in and knocked her down. Rhode charged in to help out, but ran smack into Felix's shield.

"Wash!" Rhode suddenly called out.

Wash charged in from the shadows and kicked away Felix away. Felix then grabbed him and threw him towards Locus who delivered a powerful kick, making him lose his rifle and fling over the cliff.

Wash only just grabbed onto the edge, looking down at the sheer drop below, "Whoa..."

Rhode then charged, but Locus grabbed his shoulder and punched him square in the visor. As Rhode stumbled back, Felix swept his foot and knocked Rhode off his feet. Then he grabbed Rhode by the leg and threw him back on top of a ledge and Rhode went still.

"Ha ha, that was awesome," Felix chuckled.

"Stay focused," Locus warned.

"Right," Felix replied, "Where's the other one?"

Carolina chose this moment to charge in and attack Locus. Felix quickly grabbed her arm and spun her round, allowing Locus to kick at her, then he delivered a few blows at her himself. Then Locus grabbed her from behind, lifted her up and suplexed her into the ground. Wearily, she staggered to her feet just before Locus delivered a powerful punch that literally launched her off the ground and up onto the same platform as Rhode, just a few feet from him in fact, where she lay completely stunned.

Behind the two mercs, Wash had managed to pull himself back up the ledge, "If it's not a car, it's a cliff."

"Take care of the simulation troopers," Locus informed Felix, "I have this under control."

"Right," Felix replied, running off.

Wash looked around and spotted his battle rifle lying on the ground nearby. Locus also looked around until he found his SAW.

Then he turned back to Wash, "Do not disappoint me again."

Wash nodded slowly then they both dived for their weapons. Wash snatched up his rifle, turned and opened fire.

 **XXX**

Back in Armonia, the battle was starting to get heated. Kimball and her men had managed to catch up to Doyle and were now back in the fray once more, shooting down one of the Feds.

"Oh dear!" Doyle yelped, running away again, "I'm a leader, not a fighter!"

Kimball spotted him running into a nearby building before ducking down as one of her men was taken out by the Feds, "Darn it! Get ready to cover me!"

She turned to the building with a grim expression, "This ends today."

 **XXX**

At the tower, the storm had hit the coast, bringing a thick fall of rain.

Lightning flashed in the heavens as Felix wandered across the shore, looking around for the Reds and Blues, "Come on, guys! Let's not draw this out any longer than we have to!"

"Sounds good to me!" Tucker's voice called out.

Felix looked up and spotted Tucker standing on a rock above him. With a scowl, Tucker drew out his energy sword and switched it on.

"Oh-ho, you are not!" Felix laughed mockingly, "Seriously? You're going to go with the sword?! Oh no, okay... alright!"

"What's wrong?" Tucker goaded, jumping off the rock, "You scared?"

Felix scowled as he reached for his knife, "Oh, this is going to be fun."

 **XXX**

At the base of the tower, Wash took a deep breath as he checked his ammo.

"Last mag, Wash," he murmured, "Make it count."

Quickly, he ran out of cover and into the rain, but he couldn't see Locus anywhere.

But then he heard his deep voice almost from all around him, "Why do you continue to help these people, Agent Washington?"

"Where are you?" Wash hissed, pacing around the arena.

"You have nothing to gain from them, no reason to fight for them," Locus continued, "And yet, here you stand with your life on the line for them."

"Is that so hard to understand?" Wash called out.

Just then, Locus appeared on top of a rock and opened fire, driving Wash back into cover.

Quickly, he ran out again, but Locus had disappeared again, "You used to be so much more."

 **XXX**

On the beach, Tucker and Felix circled each other slowly, their weapons drawn, waiting for the other to make the first move.

"For God's sake, man, loosen up!" Felix taunted, waving his knife back and forth, "You got to get limber!"

Tucker narrowed his eyes, "How did you convince Kimball to go to the capital?"

"Vanessa? Oh, she was easy!" Felix snorted derisively, "I just made up some story about how you all died heroically. You should have seen it, man. I gave the performance of a lifetime! Got all broken up, threw in a few dramatic pauses, and they just ate it up."

"So how long have you and Locus been working together?"

"I'm sorry, I thought we were going to be fighting here?" Felix raised his knife and got into a fighting pose.

Tucker quickly dived forward and swung his sword, but Felix quickly sidestepped and kicked the aqua sim trooper in the back, sending him sprawling, "Ahh! Holy crap!"

Felix put his hands together and bowed down like a Japanese monk.

"Round 1: Felix," he stated in a fake Japanese accent.

"God, you're a freaking tool," Tucker growled.

 **XXX**

Slowly, Wash paced around the arena, keeping an eye out for Locus.

"You were once an enemy to these men," Locus called out, his deep voice louder than the thunder, "You were ruthless! You were a survivor!"

"I was a different person," Wash retorted.

"No, you were a soldier."

Wash quickly turned round, spotting a shimmering shape running through the falling rain, "You say that like they're two different things."

"When a true soldier is told to kill, he kills," Locus replied, "He does not question why, he does not mourn the fallen; he fulfills his role and moves on to the next."

"Is that what you want to be?" Wash yelled, "A true soldier?"

"No," At that moment, Locus appeared on the walkway above him, "That is what I am!"

He opened fire again and Wash ducked behind a column.

Then he ran out and took aim, but Locus was gone again, "Dang it!"

 **XXX**

Back on the beach, Felix lashed out again, knocking Tucker back.

"Ow, you jerk!" Tucker groaned.

"God, I really just want to savor this," Felix gloated, "You know, once the Feds and rebels kill each other, I don't know what I'm going to do. I mean, we've been playing these guys for years. How do you just walk away from something like that?"

"What happened to retirement?" Tucker asked.

"Oh yeah," Felix remembered, "Well, I'll be filthy stinking rich, but I'm still in my prime! There's so much more I can do."

Tucker gave a wry smile, "Keep talking, moron."

"Well, the thing about that is-" Felix broke off with a chuckle, "Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you? You know, I just realized, I haven't seen your pals in a while. I wonder if they're trying to..."

He quickly drew out a sticky detonator and spun around, "Get the jump on me?"

On the platform behind Felix, the Reds and Caboose jumped back in alarm.

"Ahh, he knows!" Simmons yelped.

Felix fired a grenade which stuck to the edge of the platform and started to beep.

"Uh oh!" Sarge gulped.

Seconds later, KABOOOOOOMMM!!! The grenade exploded and the Reds and Caboose were thrown off the platform, landing in a heap on the sand.

"NO!" Tucker screamed, charging towards Felix who simply turned around and raised his knife.

Just as Tucker raised his sword, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his stomach. Looking down, he saw, by the light of a flashing thunderbolt, Felix's knife jabbed right through his armor, blood already staining his aqua armor.

"That's the last time you try to outsmart me, Captain Tucker," Felix snarled, pushing Tucker off his knife and onto the sand.

 **XXX**

Wash took slow deep breaths as he wandered around the area, listening to Locus's words, "I'm a professional, Agent Washington. I complete my-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you complete your missions at all cost," Wash cut in, "You can say that as many times as you want, but I know what you really are. You're a coward."

"Ridiculous," Locus scoffed.

"You keep trying to play yourself off as some sort of weapon, that you don't care about anyone or anything. But the fact that you're trying so hard to understand me breaks your entire act! No matter how hard you may want to be, you're not a machine, you're a murderer. But you hide behind the idea, because you're too afraid to take responsibility for what you've done."

As Wash spoke, Locus crept up behind him still cloaked, "I know, I used to be a real piece of crap. But at least I'm trying to do something about it."

At that moment, Locus switched off his cloak and pounced on Wash, tackling him to the ground.

 **XXX**

Pacing slowly through the corridors, Kimball glanced into each room she passed, trying to locate Doyle.

As she stepped in the main command center, Doyle suddenly leapt out of hiding, raising his gun, "Stop right there!"

Kimball turned to him, her eyes narrowed, "You..."

As she advanced, Doyle started to back away, quivering like a frightened chihuahua, "D-don't make me use this!"

 **XXX**

Mustering up his slowly ebbing strength, Tucker forced himself into a crouch, putting a hand over his wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

"You still don't get it, do you?" Felix growled, picking up his pistol, "The entire reason you sim-troopers were allowed to live this long..."

He chuckled in derision, "...is because you're all losers! Control was confident that you'd do more damage to these people than they could ever do to themselves. I mean, a bunch of idiots in charge of an army? Come on, it was a recipe for disaster! Locus and I figured we'd let you rack up the casualty count then kill you after a few weeks."

He then sighed and shook his head, "Oh but then you did something special. You gave this people hope! And with that came a new level of motivation, to fight harder, to die faster! All in the belief that their sacrifice might actually mean something. But you know what? It all means nothing! At the end of the day, if I'm stronger than you and if I'm faster than you, then I can kill you!"

He smiled and raised his pistol, "And that's better than anything money can buy!"

Tucker gave a loud cough and shook his head, "I don't know, man. I think I'd rather be rich than... a freaking nutjob. What do you think, Church?"

At once, Epsilon appeared on his shoulder, "Yeah, this guy's got no idea what he's talking about."

"What the...?" Felix gasped, almost dropping his pistol in surprise, "What the crap is this?"

"Oh, this is Church," Tucker replied, "He's the AI that helps me run my equipment."

Felix looked puzzled. "What equipment?"

In response, Tucker lifted up his head... revealing a small flashing red light in the top of his visor. "My helmet cam!"

Tucker had recorded the entire monologue.

"Oh-ho!" Epsilon chuckled, bringing up a light in his hands, "Someone just got freaking busted!"

"All right, boys!" Carolina's voice called out.

Felix whirled round to find that Carolina and Rhode had joined the rest of the Blood Gulch Crew, most of whom were aiming high-tech weapons at the jamming tower.

"Bring it down!" Rhode yelled.

The Crew all fired at the base of the tower, which began to spark in protest. Donut then threw in one final grenade and in a flash of light brighter than the lightning, the tower was destroyed.

Epsilon cast a quick glance at Tucker, "Be right back!"

Then he shifted into light and leapt into the overhanging cable, taking the footage from the helmet cam with him all the way to Armonia...

 **XXX**

...Where at that very moment, the two armies were at completely even odds. The squad members were still caught behind the bus by the chaingun-wielding Feds. In the command center, Kimball took a few more steps towards Doyle, determined to bring an end to the war.

 **XXX**

Suddenly, every TV screen in the city switched on and every loudspeaker and radio crackled into life, making the two armies stop fighting.

"What'th going on?" Jensen gasped, while the chaingunners stopped shooting.

"Check it out!" Smith cried, pointing at a nearby screen, "It's Felix!"

"Once the Feds and rebels kill each other, I don't know what I'm going to do!" Felix stated, "I mean, we've been playing these guy for years!"

"What?" Bitters breathed.

"How did you convince Kimball to go to the capital?" Tucker's voice asked.

"Captain Tucker!" Palomo shouted, "He's alive!"

 **XXX**

"Vanessa? Oh, she was easy!" Felix snorted, "I just made up some story about how you all died heroically. You should have seen it, man. I gave the performance of a lifetime! Got all broken up, threw in a few dramatic pauses, and they just ate it up."

Kimball scowled in dismay and lowered her gun, "You little..."

"The entire reason you sim-troopers were allowed to live this long is because you're all losers!" Felix gloated, "Locus and I figured we'd let you rack up the casualty count then kill you after a few weeks."

Doyle stared at the screens in utter horror, "Locus...?"

 **XXX**

All over the city, the Federal Army and the New Republic watched Felix's confession on the screen and the more they watched, the more they realized how badly they'd been duped big time, and one by one, they all lowered their guns and turned off their cloaking devices.

 **XXX**

On the walkway above, Jackson turned to his men nervously, "This is bad..."

Quickly, they cloaked and ran out of the city.

 **XXX**

Back at the coast, Locus stood over the unconscious Wash, ready to finish him off, when his radio switched on and Jackson's voice called out, "Locus, everyone at the capital knows. What do we do?"

Locus hesitated for a moment then he sighed and lowered his gun, "Follow protocol."

 **XXX**

On the beach, Tucker turned to Felix, who was still staring at the tower in shock.

"Oh dude... are you speechless?" Tucker taunted, "'Cause that's a first!"

Felix turned to him in unbridled anger.

"You... You're dead!" he yelled, raising his pistol again.

But suddenly, a targeting laser appeared on his head.

"I wouldn't, if I were you!" Carolina warned.

Felix turned and saw Carolina standing back on the platform above him, along with the Reds, Rhode, and Caboose.

"Ugh, you know, those sticky grenades kick like a mule," Sarge grunted, cocking his shotgun, "But I hear these newfangled laser blasters are quite lethal!"

Quickly, Felix raised his hardlight shield, but then Locus came running up to him, "The mission is a failure. Protocol states we are to report to Control immediately."

"But, they're injured!" Felix insisted through gritted teeth, "We can kill them, now!"

"No! We follow orders," Locus then turned to the Crew, pulling out a teleportation grenade, "Let me assure you all: This is not over."

With that, he threw down the grenade and in a flash of light, the two mercenaries disappeared.

As the light faded, Tucker gave a choking gasp and collapsed to the ground, his blood staining the wet sand red.

Just then, his radio switched on and he heard Kimball's voice calling out, "This is Vanessa Kimball of the New Republic, ordering an immediate ceasefire!"

It was then followed by a British voice, "All soldiers of the Federal Army, stand down at once!"

"Tucker? Rhode? Can anyone hear me?" Kimball called out frantically, "What are your coordinates? Where are you?"

The last thing Tucker saw were his friends and Dr. Grey running towards him before his head lolled down and everything went black...

 **XXX**

 **Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuun! And that was the end of the longest chapter I've ever written so far. 5,000 flipping words. And it's the most action packed episode of the season. And now for the finale's mind blow. Till next time guys!**


	20. Chapter 19: You Know Who We Are

**Chapter 19: You Know Who We Are**

 **NEW REPUBLIC HEADQUARTERS**

 **THREE DAYS LATER**

"Phewwww! The Pelican goes in for a landing," Palomo narrated, miming a ship landing, "The wind was blowing, the rain was pouring. The radio jammer's shooting up all sorts of electricity and stuff; it was like ka-pew, pew-pew-pew-pew!"

"Oooooohh!" the gathered soldiers gasped in awe.

"We're on the ground. Captain Tucker's bleeding out. The Reds and Blues are all bashed up," Palomo's face became serious, "Things... don't look good!"

"Aaahhhh!" the soldiers breathed.

"We led them all aboard the ship and take off as fast as we can, and that's when he spoke to me," Palomo then spoke in a faint impression of Tucker, "'Palomo... come closer. Come... closer.' It was my captain. I leaned in. 'Don't speak, Tucker, you need your strength.' But he brushed my hand aside, looked me straight in the eyes and said to me, 'Palomo... you did good, kid... you did good.'"

"Oh, that's bullcrap!" a voice yelled out from the crowd.

The soldiers all turned round to see Grif, Simmons, and Caboose standing there, along with Tucker whose wound was wrapped in bandages. It was his first day out of the ward since being treated by Dr. Grey and the medic on the New Republic, and he'd come over because he'd heard rumors of Palomo's overwrought stories.

"What I actually told you was to stop crying and to shut up," Tucker stated.

"Okay, yeah," Palomo admitted sheepishly, "But the sentiment was still there."

"I freaking hate you, Palomo," Tucker groaned.

With the story over, the soldiers parted to allow the recruits to meet up with their captains.

"You know," Bitters pointed out, "If we hadn't shown up with that ship, you'd probably be dead, like for real this time."

"Hey, we're a bunch of mavericks, okay?" Grif replied with a shrug, "We weren't even planning on making out alive. That was just an added bonus for being so awesome."

"You went on a thuithide mission for uth?" Jensen gasped.

"Well, uh, you know," Simmons murmured, rubbing the back of his neck, "We figured we owed you one."

"That'th tho thelfleth," Jensen whispered in awe, "And hey, your voithe didn't crack."

"It didn't?" Simmons coughed, "I mean, I don't know, uh, what you're talking about."

"All right, don't get carried away," Grif chuckled, patting his teammate on the shoulder, "You guys just happened to be the first people we ever met who thought we were cool. We saved you strictly for selfish reasons, and with the hope there'd be more pampering on our return."

"I'm here whenever you need me, sir!" Matthews yelled down from a nearby balcony.

"He seriously survived the fight?" Grif groaned, visor-palming, "I mean, really? The universe just had to spare Matthews."

Smith then stepped forward and shook Tucker's hand, "Well, I think I speak for all of us when I say... thank you."

"And I think that I speak for all of us when I say, this feels like the beginning of a beautiful friendship!" Caboose smiled down at his rifle, "Isn't that right, Freckles?"

"AFFIRMATIVE," Freckles replied.

"No," Grif said, shaking his head.

"Absolutely not," Simmons agreed.

"Way too cheesy," Tucker added.

"Thank you, Captain," Smith beamed, bowing his head, "I'll remember this 'til the day I die, or my name isn't John Elizabeth Andersmith!"

Tucker swapped a puzzled look with Grif and Simmons, "Oh God, is it?"

 **XXX**

In the main office of the headquarters, Kimball looked out over the scene below, smiling as she saw the white-armored Feds working alongside the tan-armored New Republic rebels.

Then she turned to Doyle, "So what do you think?"

"I think it's an absolute mess," Doyle replied.

"Well, your army didn't exactly leave us with many options over the years."

"Yes, well," Doyle replied with a cough, "I suppose we can't expect you to continue operating out of a hole in the ground. I'll talk with one of my new advisers and see if we can have your people set up at another one of our outposts."

Kimball nodded gratefully, "I was actually thinking about moving to the capital."

"What- Well, that's preposterous," Doyle spluttered.

"Excuse me?" Kimball cried, "My men deserve a roof over their heads, just like yours."

"Hey," Wash cut in as he, Sarge, Donut and Lopez entered the office, "You both agreed to a temporary truce, so why don't you start with a little cooperation?"

"Very well," Doyle sighed reluctantly, "I will see what we can do."

He then turned and held his hand out to the former Freelancer, "Agent Washington, you have my thanks."

"And mine," Kimball added, shaking Wash's hand after Doyle, "If it wasn't for you, we'd all be gone."

"Well, thanks," Wash murmured, "But you should really thank Tucker. The whole plan was actually his idea."

Kimball raised an eyebrow and smiled, "Is that so?"

"Kind of a shocker, huh?" Sarge replied.

"No, not really," Kimball said, looking away a bit, smiling.

"If there's anything we can ever do for you," Doyle continued, "please don't hesitate to ask."

"Oh gosh," Donut chuckled. "I don't think that's really necess-"

"What's a higher rank than captain?" Sarge cut in.

"Um, Colonel?" Doyle replied uncertainly.

"Promote me to Colonel!"

"Oh, uh, v-very well then." Doyle cleared his throat, "In honor of your service, I hereby promote you to Colonel... er... Sarge."

Sarge immediately ran to the window, threw it open and yelled out, "You hear that, numbnuts?! I outrank you, again! Ha!"

Wash sighed and shook his head, worried about what Grif would do to outrank him...

 **XXX**

While the Blood Gulch Crew celebrated their success with the Feds and the rebels, Carolina and Rhode sat on the balcony overlooking the underground lake, their armor lit up by the glowing algae.

"So..." Rhode said after some silence, "We haven't really had a chance to talk since you got back."

"Yeah," Carolina agreed, "Sorry."

"I just wanna know why you didn't ask me to come with you," Rhode admitted, "I would've happily come along."

"It was kind of a 'have to go now' thing. But I actually still wonder why I didn't."

"Huh."

After a while, Epsilon appeared on her shoulder, "So, did ya miss me?"

"Actually, I found the peace of mind to be rather nice for a change," Carolina admitted.

"Oh yeah," Epsilon scoffed, "I bet it went along great with that butt kicking."

"That was part of the plan," Rhode retorted.

"Oh really? Because I thought the plan was to distract them, not let them mop the floor with you."

"Look, they were better than I expected, okay?" Carolina said.

"Wimp."

"I'm still surprised you went along with the plan."

Epsilon shrugged, "Yeah, well, I figured it was time to have faith in them too."

Just then, his body flashed green for a brief moment. "Oh hey, hold on."

"Everything okay?" Carolina asked.

"Yeah, I said hold on,"Epsilon turned away for a while, "Uh huh... Great, thanks, D."

"What was that?"

Epsilon turned back with a smile, "That was the end of a very long and very annoying decryption process."

"You've got the manifest?" Rhode asked with a grin.

"Heck yeah I got the manifest. I am processing it right now," With that, Epsilon disappeared then reappeared after a few seconds, "Well, not the most dramatic revelation, but I believe we have our culprit."

Carolina sat up in expectation, "Who is it?"

Epsilon waved his hands in front of him, bringing up a holographic screen showing the logo of their culprit, "Charon Industries. Basically a big umbrella company that got a hand in every major market you can think of. Even messed with cryogenics a few years back, but it looks like their largest profit comes from weapons and technology. They own most of the stuff on the ship."

"Sounds familiar," Carolina murmured.

"Yeah, Project Freelancer stole some assets from them once or twice, and managed to destroy quite a bit of private property in the process."

Carolina's eyes widened in shock. Her mind had suddenly come back to a job she, Rhode, and Wash had pulled back with Project Freelancer, that involved the destruction of a hundred-and-ten story tower.

The same incident that started the whole 'Rhode was dead' ordeal, "You mean the Resistance? I thought they were a UNSC splinter group?"

"The soldiers were all UNSC," Epsilon agreed, "But according to my records, they've been hired on to act as Charon's private security force."

"Is that legal?" Rhode asked.

"Pfft, I doubt it. Looks like Charon and the military started getting really buddy-buddy around the time that-" Epsilon suddenly broke off with a gasp, "Oh!"

Carolina jumped to her feet in alarm, "Epsilon?"

The AI fragment then turned to Carolina, a very frantic look on his face, "Where's Dr. Grey?"

"Huh?"

"The lunatic, what's she doing?"

"She's... treating the space pirates we captured."

"Perfect," Epsilon cried, "Tell her I want them to give me all known radio frequencies used by the mercenaries."

"Why?" Rhode asked, a bit confused.

Epsilon looked up to the cave ceiling, his eyes narrowed, "I need to make a call."

 **XXX**

 **MERCENARY COMM. FACILITY**

At that moment, another call was currently being made. Having escaped from the Blood Gulch Crew's trap, Locus and Felix had immediately made contact with Control to report on their failure.

"I am at a loss, gentlemen," Control reprimanded them in his disguised voice, "Years of arduous labor and delicate manipulation all made worthless by your inability to stop a single squad of what can hardly be considered soldiers."

"They got lucky," Felix scowled.

"They were underestimated," Locus added, "And it will not happen again."

"Our operation now lies in extreme jeopardy," Control replied, "Word of our involvement can never find its way to Earth or the UNSC."

"Then what are our orders?" Locus asked.

Control was silent for a while, then at last... "Go to war."

Suddenly there came a new voice over the radio, "Hello? Yes, hello?"

"What is this?" Control cried.

"Extra sauce, please!"

"An outside transmission," Locus replied.

"Hello?"

"That's Caboose!" Felix realized, "How'd they get this channel?"

Just then, Control's darkened screen was suddenly replaced by a newspaper article, showing the Blood Gulch Crew shaking hands with a suited executive. Next to it, an image of the Reds and Blues appeared, accompanied by Kimball, Doyle, Dr. Grey, and the young recruits.

"'Colorful Space Marines Stop Corruption'," Epsilon stated, reading the newspaper, "You know, I really love the picture they used for this thing, but I gotta say, I liked the description even better. 'Pictured above: the Red and Blues troopers of Project Freelancer receive a full pardon from UNSC Oversight Chairman and Charon Industries CEO, Malcolm Hargrove. I can't imagine you liked that second bit very much though, probably not very good for business. Am I right, Chairman?"

 **XXX**

At the New Republic headquarters, the Reds and Blues watched as Control's darkened screen reappeared, but then it changed to the image of a communications room wherein stood a figure that Wash found very familiar. It was the same figure who had offered his freedom when he'd been in prison, the very reason he faked his death and joined the Blues. The bald headed figure with steely eyes and a slightly squashed nose, dressed in a dark suit, matched the executive on the newspaper exactly.

With a scowl, Malcolm turned off his voice modulator and addressed the group in his natural British accent, "On the contrary, you'd be surprised as to what can come of a merger between politics and corporations. If you're here to negotiate a surrender, I'm afraid I must inform you that your ship has set sail, quite literally in fact."

"Actually, we were just hoping to read you a letter," Rhode replied.

"It's just a little something we put together for ya," Sarge added, "Considerin' we'll probably be seein' a lot of each other over the next few weeks."

"Take it away, Church," Tucker said.

With a nod, Epsilon stepped forward, cleared his throat and then spoke.

"Dear Chairman,

It has come to our attention that you have declared war on the planet Chorus. We regret to inform you that this is a really stupid idea. Not only have you managed to annoy the people that you failed to kill time and time again, you've also found a way to tick off an entire planet. Now they may not have the best equipment and they might not be the best fighters, but as you're aware, they've been fighting for a very long time. And now that they're not fighting each other, they're more than happy to dedicate all of their time to fighting you. So, dear Chairman, to you and your idiotic mercenaries, we would like to say: Bring it on, morons! We're not going anywhere.

From your friends,

The incredibly awesome, and sexually attractive, Red and Blue soldiers of Project Freelancer.

P.S.: Suck our balls."

 **XXX**

 **And that's the finale of Season 12! Man that was awesome! But now for the epilogue. Till next time guys!**


	21. Epilogue: Recovered

**Epilogue: Recovered**

 **STAFF OF CHARON, MAIN OFFICE**

Malcolm Hargrove entered his office in a terribly foul mood. Not only have the Reds and Blues sabotaged years of planning, but they had the nerve to declare war on him! Well, he would show them... But right now, he had greater concerns to worry about.

Sitting down behind his desk, he switched on his computer and brought up an image on his screen, "FILSS?"

"Yes, Chairman?" came the rather subdued reply.

"Please clear my schedule for the rest of the day."

"Yes, Chairman."

Malcolm leaned back in his seat, rubbing his aching head, "And FILSS, could you verify that Locus's delivery was sent to the trophy room?"

"The crate from the shipwreck was unloaded and delivered this morning, sir," FILSS replied.

Malcolm looked at the screen as it brought up the image of a strange helmet that looked almost like a broken fishbowl, captioned with the titles:

Bravo Crate S6

Contents: Freelancer Armor [Helmet, Agent Maine]

Status: Delivered.

"Wonderful," the Chairman beamed, "I could use a bit of good news today."

 **XXX**

 **And that's the official end of Season 12. FILSS is still alive and the Chairman has Maine's helmet. What does he plan to do with it? All will be revealed next season! Till next time guys!**


End file.
